


Robin: Boy Wonder

by youwishyouwerethiscool



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics), DC Animated Universe, DCU (Comics), Robin (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Action, BAMF Robin, Brotp, Comedy, Fight Scenes, Humor, MY rules, Nightmares, OC Villains, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Villains and Heroes, a touch of Daddy!Bat at the end, but they're well formed, crossover fic, identity reveal!, kaldur & Roy & Wally & Robin are bros, long fic, multi-chapter, nightwing jk, not really any swearing, robin saves the day, robins actually super spectacular in this, smart robin, some Barbara Gordan/Dick Grayson, some Catwoman/Batman, some OCs, some violence, sorta - Freeform, this is friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2018-10-27 03:53:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10801152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youwishyouwerethiscool/pseuds/youwishyouwerethiscool
Summary: Dick Grayson has been Robin since he was 8 years old. By Batman's side, he's become skilled--a genius at detective work, martial arts, languages, and so much more. But he still hasn't met the other sidekicks or even the rest of the Justice League!But when the entire Justice League goes missing, Robin is thrown into a surprise meeting with Supergirl, Aqualad, Speedy, and Kid Flash. They'll quickly have to learn to trust each other...it's not just the heroes who are disappearing. Villains have started to disappear too, leaving the city empty...except for their villainous sidekicks! They will team up and discover that everyone is not who they appear to be. Luckily, Robin is three steps ahead of them...he's not called The Boy Wonder for nothing!**************My take on Robin meeting the Justice League and the other sidekicks. Robin's my favorite character so he's straight up awesome in this fic. Mix of characters and personalities taken from comics, cartoons, etc. Some Young Justice and some of your other favorites will appear. This contains a lot of popular tropes including: Daddy!Bats; Kaldur, Wally, Roy, & Robin BrOTP; robin's identity reveal; misunderstood villains; and many more.*no slash*





	1. I'm freaking Robin

I'm a superhero. Okay, that's not politically correct. Technically, I'm a _sidekick_. To Batman. 

Yes, my name is Robin. 

Actually, that's not really correct either. My real name is Richard Grayson. But the Bat calls me Dick, like my folks did. I'm not really suppose to tell anyone that. It goes against the code. 

I'm thirteen years old and I've been a sidekick since I was eight. Bruce Wayne took me in after my parent's died. He's a millionaire, philanthropist, all around great guy. And that's just the side people know about him. I'm one of the few who know him as Batman. 

I actually found out when I was trying to sneak out of the manor. I was trying to find the man who had killed my parents. Instead, Bruce caught me. The next thing I know, I'm waking up in the Bat-cave. That's when Bruce told me he was the Batman. And then he offered me a position. To be his partner. 

How could I say no? 

I was already a born acrobat and I had been performing on the trapeze since before I could walk. I used to belong to Haley's Circus, as part of the act the Flying Graysons. 

But Batman taught me martial arts, how to hack any computer, how to search for clues, how to detect if someone is lying, how to hot-wire and drive almost any vehicle, how to speak several languages, how to disable a bomb in under ten seconds, how to use various weapons, and how to blend in with the shadows. It's needless to say that he taught me a lot. 

The most important thing he taught me, however, was how to role play. Superheroes are only superheroes if their identity is hidden. And the best way to do that is by making sure nobody will ever suspect you as your alter ego. Batman accomplished that by being all dark and moody as Batman, and then all smiles and public donations as Bruce Wayne. I sort of have a similar deal going on.

I maintain a preppy sort of air as a private school kid. I make sure I get good grades, go to every pep rally, run for student government, and get on the yearbook committee every year. But at the same time, I maintain a snobby way of looking at things like someone would if they've only ever been rich. I make sure all my friends are popular, I have all the latest clothes and tech, I get in trouble every once in a while for talking back, and I mock some kids behind their backs. Of course, I don't actually mean anything by it, it's all part of the cover. But if anyone said Dick Grayson was actually a superhero, they'd be laughed out of the school. 

A common mistake most superheroes make is thinking that the best way to blend in is to take a step away from the crowd. To be the outcast, the kid who gets bullied, the loner with practically no friends. 

But that's stupid. The way Batman devised is much better. No one would dare bully me. Everyone knows who I am. Dick Grayson. Rich kid, teacher's pet, popular kid. Even kids who I don't even know know who I am. And because they are so self assured that they know my exact personality, my way of mind, and every thought that goes through my head, they would never expect me to be a crime fighter. Those loner kids that no one knows anything about...they'll be the ones everyone's whispering about in the halls if there's a tipoff that Robin goes to this school. They don't know where that kid was Friday night, while Robin was stopping Catwoman with Batman. But Dick Grayson—no way, he was at a party, right? I mean, _someone_ must have seen him. 

I've got a reputation. And thanks to that, no one knows I'm Robin. 

But it's weird. The few friends the loner kid does have know him completely and stand up for him whenever everybody's pointing accusatory fingers at him. 

But me, my friends have no idea who I really am. Once I saw this one kid getting bullied and I said to my friends that we should stop it. They just looked at me like I had grown a third eye. 

"Gee, Dick, we didn't think you were the helping, goody-two-shoes type."

And it's times like that where I feel like _I'm_ actually the loner kid on campus. 

 


	2. Things get Weird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get Weird and Supergirl makes an appearance.
> 
> "If you are viewing this, it means you are a sidekick to a member of the Justice League. I'm afraid a horrible tragedy has occurred. You are under orders to report to the Hall of Justice to discuss our next steps."

The first thing Batman taught me was never leave home without your utility belt. The second thing he taught me was how to get it past airport security. Lucky for me, the Bat's a millionaire so we probably will never have to take public transportation (which is just as well, because that lesson was one if the few things I failed at. Batman likes to test in _real life_ scenarios and it was really awkward trying to explain to the security officers at Douglas International why an eight year old kid was trying to smuggle a belt of homemade grenades onto a plane).

Batman has a _lot_ of rules. And naturally, he had me memorize all 3,457 of them. It's really not that bad, I figure that all sidekicks have to do similar things. 

The thing is, I've never actually met any other sidekicks. Batman keeps me on the down low. He calls me "the secret weapon." I haven't met any superheroes or sidekicks from any place. And I doubt that Batman told them about me. He's not really the sharing type. 

Batman says he knows what's best, I totally trust him. But it would still be nice to join some type of sidekick share group where I can talk to people who are experiencing similar problems as me. "So yesterday I forgot my backup mask at home. Annoying, am I right?" 

"Yes, Robin, totally. You're so awesome!"

At least, that's how I imagine it going in my head. But of course, Batman would never allow me to join even if such a thing did exist. He's really big on keeping your personal and superhero life separate. That mean no one knows that the Bat goes home and watches paid programming to put himself to sleep after a busy night tracking down Mr. Freeze. 

All I'm saying is it would be nice to have a friend. As far as I can tell, there are sidekicks close in age to me, but I'm one of the youngest ones. Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Speedy (dumb name) are all the closest. There's also a girl, Supergirl, but I don't know a lot about her. 

Batman's Rule Number 1,342 is know your friends like you know your enemies. And by friends, he means acquaintances. And when he says to know them, he means _everything_. 

So even though I've never met Aqualad or Kid Flash or any of them, I still know a ton about them. Their real names, birthdays, favorite things, places they like to hang out, family, stuff like that. And no, I'm not a stalker. I'm apprenticed to the world's greatest detective. Detective and stalker are really sort of the same thing except the detectives stalk the stalkers. Plus, Batman has the same password for all his Justice League files. It was almost too easy.

I've never tried to approach Batman about meeting other superheroes before. I don't know what got into my head to do it today. 

I'm sitting at the long imported table, Bruce to my left. Alfred is bringing in a hot stack of pancakes and hash browns. 

I shift, making it clear that I was about to say something. Bruce obediently looks up. "Can I ask you a question?"

Bruce watches me steadily. "What do the rules say about questions?"

"Sir, please, can we enjoy breakfast? Let the lad eat." Alfred gives me a sad look. 

I frown. "Rule Number 620, don't ask questions we don't want to know the answer to, Rule 746 don't ask stupid questions unless you want to hear stupid answers—"

"Sir—"

"Alright, Alfred. Calm down. I was just testing the boy's mind." He looks at me seriously. "No matter what time it is, always be awake and aware."

I nod though I've already heard this a thousand times. Someone should tell the Bat that the definition of pop quiz doesn't mean that it happens every morning.

"Now, what is the question?" Bruce leans back, taking a sip of his extra strong coffee. 

"I was wondering...well..."

"Don't pause, always speak with authority," Bruce immediately says. 

I'm starting to wonder if I'll be able to get this out at all without having to spend the rest of the day practicing my public speaking. "Okay, fine. I was wondering if I could, you know, meet with other sidekicks."

Bruce gives me his best Batman scrutinizing stare. I meet his gaze steadily because I know if I look away first, I'll get an even harsher scolding. 

Alfred clears his throat and Bruce blinks. 

"What brought this on?"

I swallow. "Well, it just, you see on TV that—"

"Never trust anything unless you see or hear it for yourself. And even then, don't believe it."

"Yeah, I know—Rule 345—but you see all the time that the other sidekicks get to hang out together and fight crime and stuff."

"Never use 'stuff' where another—"

"—word can be used, yeah I know." I resist rolling my eyes. 

Alfred gets up and quietly leaves the table. "We could have just had breakfast..."

"Dick...look. It's not those people you want to be friends with. They're great people, sure, but we all know the risks when we sign up for this. We can't just be friends with them knowing they might die any day—"

"That ridiculous. No one has died in twenty-nine years," I snap, without thinking.

Bruce pauses. "You hacked my League files."

I blush. "I—"

"Enough. Get to school. I have a password to change." Bruce stands up and leaves without another word. 

When I get in the limo, I'm flushed and angry. Alfred doesn't say anything to me as he drives me to school, probably sensing that I want to be left alone.

I lean my forehead against the cool window glass. It's raining again, but it usually does in Gotham. 

No one really talks to me at school either. My friends can tell when I'm in a mood and they just talk to each other, discussing the hottest girls and the most annoying teachers. I have three people walk up and ask if I can attend their party on Saturday. I say yes to all of them, keeping my cover, but not really sure if I'll be able to make any of them if I have an alert from Batman. Maybe one at the most, and, of course, that person will think they're my favorite and immediately get boosted in the popularity standings. 

Janet, the girl I've been dating, walks with me to my locker. 

"So, what are you doing Saturday?" she asks, twirling a finger in her hair. 

I shrug noncommittally. "Party."

"Oh, whose? Because I..." Then she launches into a huge spiel, talking about who's going to which party and who's not invited. I pretend to listen. Janet's really pretty, but she talks too much. I'll probably break up with her in a few days. My friends tease me and call me a player, but honestly, I'm looking for someone a little deeper; someone who can think farther into the future than the upcoming Saturday. 

Suddenly, there's a beeping in my ear.

"Janet, I gotta go," I say, interrupting whatever she had been saying. 

Janet blinks and walks away, looking a little hurt. That was really rude, I know, but the Bat hates it when I keep him waiting.

I make sure I'm alone before touching the skin colored piece in my ear. "I'm here, what is it?"

No answer. 

That's not good. I take it out, studying the earbud. I charged it just last night. It should be fine. I put it back in my ear. Nothing, just static. 

Something is seriously wrong. 

I open my locker and run my finger over what looks like a used bandaid stuck to the back. But it's actually a cleverly disguised fingerprint scanner. 

The secret back panel opens, revealing a small doorway. I squeeze through after double-checking no one's watching. A few years back, Wayne Enterprises made a huge donation to my school for constructing some new classrooms. That's when the Bat had this put in. It's just large enough for me to change in and get my gear together before slipping out the back. 

I grab my costume off the wall and take off my school uniform to put it on. It's form fitting and shows off my somewhat lacking muscles. I'm pretty skinny and still on the small side. I'm more limber and wiry than I would like. But Batman taught me to use that to my advantage. He claims that I'll grow out of it when I get older. 

My outfit has a red torso with black flexible pants and combat boots. My utility belt is yellow, and an R encircled in yellow lies over my heart. A pair of elbow length black gloves that (if I'm quick enough) can supposedly stop bullets and have a built in AC adapter. It's complete with a black cape with a yellow inside that comes in handy when I want to hide the whole ensemble. 

When I was little, I complained to Batman that it looked stupid. He simply said I didn't give him a whole lot of options with the name I chose. So he had chosen a design that looked like somewhere in between Robin Hood and keeping with the Red-Breasted Robin theme. But when I told him I wanted to be Robin, I was eight and probably feeling homesick (Robin is what my mom used to call me). I guess I thought I would be keeping with the flying animal thing he had going on. 

Batman told me he chose his name because it reminded him of a time where he had been scared (that's hard to imagine) and he wanted all the villains he faced to feel the same fear. 

I'm glad I chose Robin as my name now because it makes me think of my mom, which makes me think of how she was killed, which makes me angry. So every time the bad guys say my name, I have a reason to beat the crap out of them. 

But enough of that, I have an actual crisis on my hands.

Using my gloves, I called up my holo-screen from my wrist and touched my message box. These gloves are probably the most high-tech part of my gear. 

It says that I have three missed messages, which makes me cringe. It means the Bat tried to call me before but I didn't notice. I must have been more deep in thought than I thought (heh). 

I listen to the first one. 

"Robin...I swear, you better be busy at school because if you forgot to charge your earbud, I'll..."

I wince and play the second one. 

"Look, something's not right. I need you back at the Manor, right now. There's too much fog...I think something—" 

And the transmission cuts out.

I feel a little queasy. Then I get to the third call and all I hear is static on the other end. Like Batman tried to call back and something happened...

A sudden beeping in my ear makes me jump. The holo-screen tells me I have a new message. Slowly, I press the button to open it, fearing what I might see. What if the Bat was captured and is being held kidnapped and the guy wants a ransom or he'll kill him right then and there?

But it's not Batman who appears on the screen. Instead, it's a girl with blonde hair and blue-brown eyes. I immediately know who she is. Kara Zor-El, Superman's cousin, and the Supergirl. 

"If you are viewing this, it means you are a sidekick to a member of the Justice League. I'm afraid a horrible tragedy has occurred. You are under orders to report to the Hall of Justice to discuss our next steps."

I wondered briefly whose orders I was under. Supergirl's? Because she had only been a sidekick to Superman for a few months, maybe a year at the most. And where was she that she had the tech to send an instant simultaneous message to every sidekick known?

"For those who don't know me, I'm known as Supergirl. Right now, you all are probably feeling abandoned and confused. But don't be afraid. We have been training for this moment our whole lives. It just came a little sooner than we all thought it would." She gives a small chuckle that doesn't reach her eyes. "Hall of Justice in one hour, starting now, please. We are in code Zero Red." The recording blinks out. 

I sit there for a moment, dumbstruck. After all, she didn't even tell us what's going on. I mentally calculate when an hour from now is. Gotham is pretty close to Star City and I'd have plenty of time to get there. I have my license saying I'm old enough to drive a motorcycle, and I can summon my bike with just a touch of a button.

But I'm tempted to go back to Wayne Manor. Is everything still there? Is Alfred okay? Maybe Bruce is still their too, cussing out the liability of faulty tech. 

But half of me knows that's not true. Even though it was a recording, I could tell Supergirl was being honest. Something bad did happen. And I really want to know what.

I stick my black mask to my face and check myself over in the mirror. This was it. After five years of being totally secluded from the other sidekicks, I'm suddenly going to meet them all at once. 

Oh man, something just occurred to me. If none of them know who I am, they might not trust me. And if I told them I was sidekicked to Batman, they definitely wouldn't believe me. What was it that Batman always says? 

_If you're not sure how someone will react to a certain piece if information, best to keep it to yourself._

I study my own blue eyes, clearing them of any emotion, and run a hand through my black hair. Best to appear calm and collected. 

I press the button on my glove that summons my motorbike and step through the back door and into a whole different world. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave me a comment or kudos! Both are greatly appreciated!  
> Also, a note on the Rules Robin mentions—they're mine. Property of me. I feel they fit Dick really well, but they are not technically canon. (Though you try telling me that's totally not something Batman would do.)


	3. Easy Peasy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People underestimate me and I meet the team.
> 
> Speedy frowns. "And what's this about Batman's sidekick? Batman doesn't have a sidekick."  
> "Yeah," Kid Flash agrees, "and if he did, that guy would be awesome. Could you imagine? He would be like...Batkid!"

The streets are silent, which is weird for Gotham. Usually, you can hear the police sirens in the backstreets, the angry shouts of road rage, and some screaming baby somewhere in the crowd. But the street my school is on is unusually quiet. Almost like it can sense something's not right in the world. That something's missing.

Immediately, I think about how the last conversation me and Bruce had, we argued. If I never see him again...

Pushing _that_ happy thought from my head, I turn my attention in the direction of squealing tires. My motorbike pulls up right at the curb and stops in front of me, all by itself. She's a pretty piece of work, custom made for me. She's red, black, and yellow, the same colors as my costume. Hidden machine guns in the front and an engine that can get me up to 400 miles per hour. That's faster than the Bat-mobile. 

I hop on, slide on my helmet, and set my GPS for Star City. The bike asks for a vocal recognition and I oblige, saying "Robin slaves for Batman," my preset vocal pattern. 

I double-check that I have my license (usually, no cop would dare pull me over, dressed as I am, and even then I could get away fairly easily. Still better safe than sorry). With a flick of my wrist, I gun the engines and speed down the street, my motor causing noises to echo off the strangely silent buildings. There are still people and cars about, but they all seem to be at a low hum similar to the way hundreds of people at a funeral sound. 

When I maneuver around cars and trucks none of them even honk their horns at me. This is starting to get weird really fast. 

After about an hour, I approach Star City. Everything is so bright and the sun feels hot on my skin. In Gotham it either rains or is overcast day in and day out. So I'm pretty pale and I'm not used to all this sun. My black cape which is perfect for the shadows of Gotham makes me stick out like a sore thumb among the primary colored civilians. I zoom down the streets and make my way to the Hall of Justice. 

The Hall is mostly a museum for tourists. Huge statues of their favorite heroes, famous memorabilia from their favorite villains, and the like. But League members get special access to a secret door that does lead to a debriefing room of sorts. At least, that's what Batman told me. 

I park my motorcycle and jump off, checking the time. I'm late. On purpose of course. Hopefully, if this isn't a trap, I'll be able to sneak in the back without anyone noticing. 

I open the glass doors and slip through the museum portion of the building. There's a glass roof here and the sunlight seems intensified by it. There are some tourists ambling around, but they don't notice me. I go up to the two large steel, titanium-reinforced doors underneath the huge statues of Superman and Batman. Number One and Number Two of the League. I look up at my mentor's twenty foot high gaze. He looks mad. I swear, are there any pictures of Batman where he's _smiling?_

I take off my left hand glove and press my hand to the pad beside the doors. A green light shines out from under my palm as it scans me. A woman's robotic voice asks, "Vocal recognition please."

This is sort of like my bike's system except more advanced. I hope Batman programmed me into the system. Otherwise an electric shock powerful enough to kill a rhino will shoot through my hand and up my arm. "Robin, G2." 

"Recognized," the woman's voice says. The huge metal doors slide open. 

If nobody noticed me before, the certainly do now. The tourists stare at me, studying my costume. 

"Momma, is that Speedy?" a little kid asks. 

Slightly annoyed, I wave to them and slip inside. _Speedy_? Seriously? 

The metal doors slide closed behind me, shutting me inside a small compartment. There's another simpler, this one with a key pad. It's dark, only illuminated by a small iridescent bulb overhead. After all the sunlight my retinas were tortured by, I have to squint to see the numbers. They're not in numerical order, so I have to be careful as I hit the proper ones. 

One...nine...three...eight. 

There's a metallic click of a door unlocking and I turn the handle, making the door swing inward. 

I immediately take in the room, searching for any traps or anybody lurking who could try to jump me. There's no need though. Everybody here is gathered around a stage stationed underneath a big golden globe of Earth which is hanging from the ceiling. I recognize some people from TV: the Rocket, Bee, the Guardian, Terra. There are a few that I've seen on the news before but don't know their names. Then there are the big ones. Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Speedy. They're standing on the stage, along with Supergirl, who's behind the podium. I realize that this entire room is just for show. The League probably uses it for induction ceremonies or something similar. 

My plan of arriving late seems to have worked because nobody seemsto notice me joining the back of the crowd. 

Supergirl is talking. Again. "It's important for us all to stay calm. We don't know what happened. But it's alright, I'm sure we'll figure something out." She dressed up in full red, white, and blue with the Superman logo on her front. She's hovering a few inches off the ground like she's nervous. 

Aqualad speaks and his voice sounds off due to his Atlantean accent. He has dark skin but white hair. His costume is somewhere in between wet gear and dry fit. On his back are two crisscrossing staffs that help him control the water or something. "Thank you all for getting here so quickly."

"Well, most of you," Speedy says. I can see why that kid confused us. His costume is modeled off of Robin Hood too. Except he has an actual bow with arrows slung over his shoulder. It's even complete with a little feathered hat. His outfit is the same basic colors as mine, mostly red with hints of yellow but no black. He's also got a similar mask to my own, but that's where the similarities end. He and I couldn't look more different. He's taller, for one, and has short orange hair. I can tell his eyes are green from this distance half because he's looking right at me. 

Then I realize with a jolt that _everyone_ is looking right at me. 

"Supergirl said on the hour," Kid Flash says. I can tell even from this distance that he has a face full of freckles. His costume is formfitting and bright yellow. It raps around his forehead, making his hair stick up over the top. Goggles rest over his eyes and two red lightning bolts sticking out of the sides of his head. It's modeled after the Flash's outfit, but I think it looks sort of weird. At fourteen, he's the closest in age to me. The three of them all started as sidekicks around the same time and their supers would sometimes even send them all on missions together. 

"You're late," Speedy says, summing it up. "And who are you?"

I clear my throat. "Robin."

I hear someone snicker and I turn and glare at them. It's some girl dressed as a magician. "Something funny?"

"Who's your super, Black Canary?" someone asks. I few more people giggle. I feel my face turn red. 

"Enough," Supergirl commands. "He's one of us. I'm sure he has a reason for being late." She looks at me expectantly. 

Sheesh, they're really hung up on this late thing. If I had known that, I would have gotten here on time. But then they would probably berate me for being too early. "Well, I don't know how the rest of you got here so fast, but I had to drive."

Speedy scoffs. "Please, you don't have a license. You're what, ten?"

I lock my jaw. "Thirteen."

Speedy snickers with Kid Flash but a look from Aqualad silences them. He turns to me a says sincerely, "You should have had a licensed adult drive you. It's dangerous."

Says the guy who took out a kraken practically by himself. "I have a license." This is getting annoying. "I've been driving for years." I can tell by the looks on their faces that none of them believe me. I can just imagine their mommy's and daddy's dropping them off at the Hall. "So is someone going to tell me what the emergency is?"

Supergirl answers. "Haven't you noticed? All the superheroes that belong to the League...they've just disappeared."

I feel my stomach flip. "What? How can they all just disappear?"

"Nobody knows. Whatever happened to them happened when they were by themselves."

So _none_ of us were near our supers _all at the same time_? I'm finding that a little hard to believe. "Right...but why did you call all the sidekicks together then?"

"Well, we obviously have to do something about this!" Supergirl looks around at the assembled kids."It's our duty to stop the criminals in our heroes' absence and find out what happened to them!"

Duty? "I don't know if any of you have noticed, but there is no crime happening."

"How do you know this?" Aqualad asks.

Because I have a police scanner that I listened to on the way over here. And it was silent the entire way from Gotham. "The streets are quiet and everyone's unusually calm. Unless Star City is always like this."

Speedy shook his head. "It's not and he's right. The City would usually be bursting with crime. But no alerts have shown up, have they, Supergirl?"

Supergirl shakes her head. "No. None. Weird." She chews her lip and then flies down from the stage. "Okay everyone. You guys should all go back to your normal routine. Help each other out. If you encounter any villains, don't take them on alone. But you all should be able to handle regular crooks by yourselves."

Everyone grumbles but no one argues. They all push past me towards the door.

I don't go with them. Aqualad, Kid Flash, Speedy, and Supergirl are all standing on the stage, looking like they have no intention of leaving. 

"Bird Boy, you should probably leave too," Supergirl says, butchering my name innocently. 

"It's Robin, and there is no way I'm going anywhere." I cross my arms and stare at them. 

"No offense intended," Aqualad says, "but we have been doing this job longer than most. And we are experienced together."

"What about her," I jerk my head at Supergirl who turns red. 

"Supergirl? Oh, she holds information that—" Kid is cut off my an elbow thrown by Speedy. Rubbing his stomach, he says, "But that's classified."

"Please, this is the Justice League, not the FBI." I roll my eyes. "Is it not designed to uphold the traditions of honesty, integrity, truth, justice..." I start reciting the entire League code by heart.

"Okay, okay, sheesh, calm down," Kid says, stopping me mid-sentence. "You're like a walking smartphone."

Why was he making generalizations when we've only just met? 

"Maybe we could use his help," Aqualad says. He studies me carefully. "Who did you say your mentor was?"

"I didn't," I say. 

"That doesn't matter," Speedy says, "we judge a person by their own merit, not their super's."

I nod. That's the smartest thing I've heard come out of any of their mouths yet. "So what's this classified information?"

Supergirl still looks unsure but she relents anyways. "Okay, fine. It's what Superman said to me right before he disappeared. I could hear him because of my super hearing. He trained me to fine tune it enough so that only key words catch my attention instead of me hearing everything enough. One of the words is my name. Here, I started writing it down as soon as he started talking." She pulls a folded piece of paper from her pocket and hands it to me. 

I open it. The other guys look over my shoulder. "Nice handwriting," I murmur. It's generic girl handwriting, large letters and happy looking a's.

 

_ Supergirl...don't have much time. Something bad...to happen...Fog...You must assemble... sidekicks. You'll know why. Make a...group...track us down. Batman saw this coming...I should have listened...look...Batman's sidekick. And be brave, cousin, and be _

 

The writing stops. I'm gripping it hard, my stomach in my throat. 

"That's it?" Speedy asks, sounding disappointed. 

"Yeah, then he just stops talking. If it was someone else...I would have thought he was..." She sniffs.

Kid Flash throws an arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry, babe, we'll figure it out."

Aqualad is studying the note. "I notice there are some words missing. Why is that?"

Supergirl shrugs Kid off before answering. "I couldn't hear everything he said. I'm still in training, remember?"

Speedy frowns. "And what's this about Batman's sidekick? Batman doesn't have a sidekick."

"Yeah," Kid Flash agrees, "and if he did, that guy would be awesome. Could you imagine? He would be like...Batkid!"

Speedy snorts. "Just because you guys just use your mentors' names in your names doesn't mean everyone has to."

"Sorry, _Speedy Gonzales_. I guess we just don't have you style," Kid rolls his eyes. 

"Whatever _Kid_ Flash, Aqua _lad_ , and Super _girl_. Robin gets me, right," Speedy looks at me for support. 

"Uh, yeah sure." I decide not to tell them that the villains I've encountered like to call me (sarcastically) the "Boy Wonder." But honestly, I'm still thinking about the letter. Fog...Batman mentioned fog too. 

"...we should check out his place. I've got the coordinates for the Bat-cave and Gotham's not that far from here—"

"Wait, what?" I frown at them. "We are not going to the Bat-cave."

"No, _we're_ not," Speedy says. " _You_ can go back to wherever you call home. We're going to investigate. Superman mentions Batman twice. No way that's a coincidence. So go on, fly back to your nest, little birdie." He brushes past me. 

"You can't go to the Bat-cave," I say, suddenly desperate. Batman's rules rush through my head. Number 3 is never let someone into the Bat-cave. _Never_. 

"Actually, we can. The coordinates are right here in the League files." Supergirl pats the computer happily. "The Cave is right outside of Gotham. And there's even a huge landmark to guide us there." She squints at the screen. "Wayne Manor."

I make a face as I stare at her. Honestly, I can't believe how stupid people are sometimes. Even when they have big obvious connections staring them right in the face, no one realizes who Batman really is. Oh, you want to know where the Bat-cave is? You know, the place where Batman goes when he's not using super expensive tech to fight super villains with his thirteen-year-old sidekick? Yeah, it's right next to the Wayne Manor where the super rich millionaire Bruce Wayne lives mysteriously with his thirteen-year-old ward. I shake my head. "Well, don't you think it'll be a little more difficult than just driving up? I mean, Batman will have security, and lots of tech in between you and the door. You won't just be able to waltz in without any—"

"We don't have to," Kid Flash interrupts me. "We've also got the number for Batman's 'sidekick'. Where have you been?"

Thinking. "What do you mean you've got his number?"

"His number for his League Alert device. And it may be a girl," Supergirl says, throwing Kid a look. She turns back to me. "No name, no nothing. Just a number. Superman always said Batman likes to be mysterious."

She has no idea. "I still think—"

"We have wasted enough time," Aqualad interjects. "Speedy, can you drive yet?"

Speedy shifts, looking uncomfortable. "I've got my permit, but—"

"Then let's be off. The League has some cars around back. Robin, you are either in or out."

I have no desire to let these kids find out about me or get into the Cave. That's too many of Batman's rules broken in one day. "I'll pass."

"Well, thanks for all your help at least," Speedy says sarcastically. The others wave to me and exit through a door behind the stage. 

I want the door close behind them before looking down at the card I palmed from his pocket when Speedy brushed into me earlier. It's going to be hard for them to get anywhere if Speedy doesn't have his license. It's not even a license, but a permit. I shake my head in disgust. It's even for his real identity, Roy Harper, and not a Justice League certified one like all of mine are so that they only identify me as Robin. 

But that'll only slow them down temporarily. Superheroes have a real problem with morals. Driving without a license is one such problem. So it'll buy me thirty minutes at the most. 

I go through the doors back the way I came. The city seems to have woken up a little and people snap pictures as I walk by. Like they don't see costumed vigilantes everyday. I ignore them as I push open the glass doors and walk back into the blinding sunlight. 

Outside, I see that a group of older guys have gathered around my bike. I immediately jump into high alert. 

They look up as I approach. "Hey, junior, where's your daddy? Is this his bike?"

My hand twitches to the pocket on my belt where I keep my throwing stars. Batman's training comes back to me as I survey the guy who spoke. 

He's got sun bleached blonde hair and a lazy eye that requires corrective lenses to fix but this guy probably thinks he's too cool to wear them. His clothes are rumpled but nice enough that I think he's probably rich and couldn't care less. His nose looks like it's been broken twice which means that he's either incredibly clumsy or starts fights he can't win. The lump in his front pocket is too thick to be an iPhone which means his parents are old fashioned so they gave him a basic slide or flip phone, and they probably don't know where he is right now (terrorizing younger kids and such). Its position in his right pocket shows that he's probably right handed which means if he's going to throw a punch, he'll lead with his left foot. 

My mind takes this all in in less than a second and I smile easily back at him. "No, it's mine."

"You playing hero or something?" He chuckles and his friends laugh along with him. I do a brief survey of them but determine that if I take down their leader, the others will probably go running. 

"What, did the costume give it away?" I smile cockily at him. "You're smarter than you look."

There, that got the expected rise out of him. His face is red. One down side to bringing all your cronies with you everywhere. They see you when you lose too. 

"No reply? Do I have to dumb I down for you?" I say the last part really slowly. 

Beach Boy grunts angrily. Seriously, grunting? 

I watch his eyes flicker to my stomach, where he wants to hit me. I grin. "Careful. Or I'll tell Mommy you're not at the library like you said you were." That last part is just a guess, I passed a library on my way over here. But something tells me this guy isn't very bright so cliché excuses to his folks are right up his alley. 

Beach Boy's eyes widen and his friends are exchanging incredulous looks. "How did you—"

"I read it all over your face you big ape," I say. This needs to get done fast before Speedy gets over his moral dilemma or the Sidekick Brigade decides to take a bus.

"That's it—" Beach Boy steps with his left foot towards me, his right hand pulled back in a fist. I prepare myself. Now, little hint for all those villains out there, when you say little things like, "that's it" or "now you're gonna pay" it kinda gives away what you're going to do next. 

I move slightly to the side as Beach Boy punches at me and grab his arm to carry his momentum forward. At the same time, I use my other hand to send a lightning quick jab at his nose. I think that might be a weak spot for him, and sure enough, he squeals like a baby even though I barely tapped him. I kick his lead leg out from underneath him and he spins around, carried by his own momentum and completely off balance, to hit the ground on his butt behind me. He checks his nose for blood as he stares up at me. 

"Sloppy, very sloppy," I say. And then I laugh. Hearing that, the other guys run off and soon their leader follows, gripping his newly re-broken nose. 

My laugh isn't really...normal. It's not really the tough guy, "Har, har, har, take that evil doer," kind of thing. It's sounds just as confident but is more high pitched. Its the laugh of a kid who knows what he's doing and might just be crazy enough to kill you. It's the kind of laugh that sends chills down your spine when you hear it in the night, bouncing and echoing off the walls and streets of the city. Batman even told me once that it gave him the willies. The laugh is quickly becoming my trademark since when the villains hear it, they immediately know it's me. And that the Bat's not far behind. 

I still have a stupid grin on my face as I turn back around. My joy quickly evaporates though. The tourists are on the other side of the glass in the Hall, taking pictures like crazy. When they see me looking their way, the shrink back, like I can't still see them through the glass. Oh great, I can imagine the headlines now. "New Hero, Robin, Starts Off His Day Terrorizing the Citizens of Star City." Batman's going to kill me. 

I hop on my bike and, after a quick verse of "Robin slaves for Batman," I'm on my way. I have to beat the others to Gotham, figure out how they're going to think they're meeting Batman's sidekick without actually doing so, and somehow stop them from getting too far into the Bat-cave. 

Easy peasy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we have a little Young Justice characters with some Supergirl and Speedy. Love these guys. The next chapter will feature someone everyone knows and loves...
> 
> FYI- in case you can't tell this is based LOOSELY off the Young Justice episode where the realities are split between adults and kids. But it's not the same villain or anything haha.


	4. Nightwing vs Junior Justice League

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightwing appears and leads the Junior Justice League on a merry chase. More is revealed about the disappearance of the Justice League.
> 
> ............
> 
> "We were wondering, perhaps, Nightwing, if you could get us access to the Bat-cave?" Aqualad asks.  
> "It's an emergency," Kid Flash says.  
> "We need intel and we think searching Batman's stuff might provide some answers," Speedy says, cutting right to the chase.  
> I stand there silently for a moment, pretending to think it over. "No."

I'm all set and I'm up in a tree. That's right, the Robin's in his nest. People can make fun of that all they like. I embrace it.

Through my binoculars, I'm watching the Four Musketeers clumsily make their way though the forest to the Cave. They sure took their sweet time getting here. 

Enough time for me to sneak into the Bat-cave, lock down all important files and double encrypt them, and grab my stealth suit. It's all black, though designed the same as my other outfit. There's also a part that wraps around my head and goggles that cover my eyes. 

I also had enough time to ride to a costume store and buy a pair of fake foam muscle pads that I'm currently wearing under my suit to make me look more ripped that I actually am. It was almost a cliché: Robin going to a store to buy some muscles. Stupid. 

But it worked. I caught a look at myself on the way over here and I look pretty darn scary. Not at all like I usually do. With a little voice modification magic, no one will ever be the wiser. 

So now here I am. In my tree outside the Cave. And it's starting to rain again. I don't mind, it actually feels good. The others though... I can hear them complaining from here. 

"How can Gotham be so close to Star City but so gloomy?" Supergirl asks, hugging herself and shivering. 

Funny, I was wondering the same thing, except I was wondering how Star City can be so happy when it's so close to Gotham. 

"GA told me it literally never stops raining here. Just this, all day long," Speedy gestured at the sky. 

I frown at that. It stopped raining this morning for a moment. And who is "GA"? Oh, I see, Green Arrow. So they're familiar enough with each other that they use short hand when they talk?

"When are we going to get there, Kara? I just want to call this guy and get inside." Kid Flash looks impatient. 

But "Kara"? So they all know each other's secret IDs? That throws me through a loop for a second. 

"Quiet, _Wally_. We're on a mission so it's code names only." Supergirl shoves him. Really? Shoving? 

"I do not see why you three do not like the rain," Aqualad states. "It is a nice reprieve from the scorching desert of Star City. Don't humans play in lakes and pools anyways? How is this any different?"

"The difference is, I don't _want_ to be wet," Speedy says. 

"Why would you not—"

"Shhh, we're here." Supergirl holds up and hand, stopping them. "Okay, I'm going to call the number. You guys stay quiet." She presses out the numbers on the device she's been carrying. 

They all jump when it starts to ring right next to them in some bushes, where I put my earbud earlier after cranking it up as loud as it can go. 

As they are turned, searching the bushes, I silently climb down from the tree and step out of the shadows. 

"Nope, no one here."

"Wait, look," Aqualad holds up my earpiece. "He was trying to lose us."

"No, actually, I wasn't." They jump and spin around to look at me. My voice sounds deeper, like I'm older and tougher. And cooler. I grin under my mask, even though they can't see it. 

"Who are you?" Supergirl asks.

I pause. Okay, quick. Come up with a name that's not stupid, relates to Batman, and sounds cool. "I...am Nightwing." I grin again. Yeah, that works. "And I believe you have been looking for me."

They all just stare at me for the longest time. "Nightwing?"

I nod once. "Did I stutter?" That sounds like a good tough guy phrase. 

"Uh, what? No, I mean—" Supergirl glances at the others. "No, it's cool. Just...unexpected, that's all. How long have you been out here?"

What, was she worried I'd catch a cold? "Long enough." Another good one. Man, I am on fire today. 

"We were wondering, perhaps, Nightwing, if you could get us access to the Bat-cave?" Aqualad asks. 

"It's an emergency," Kid Flash says.

"We need intel and we think searching Batman's stuff might provide some answers," Speedy says, cutting right to the chase.

I stand there silently for a moment, pretending to think it over. "No."

"No?" Now I've really confused them. "We're on official League business! This is hindering an operation! You could get suspended!" This all from Supergirl who still has got that newbie morality about her. 

"Oh, no," I say blandly. "But seriously. You're not going in there." I know for a fact they won't find anything in there. Batman wasn't even in the Cave when he disappeared. I scanned through the surveillance feeds while I was up in the tree waiting to get this ball rolling. And what I found out is that Batman was actually in his office in the Manor at the last recording. There's nothing after that, only static. Undeniably, it's when Batman disappeared. But there is _no way_ I'm letting them investigate my home for stuff I already know. No thank you.

"But...you have to let us in." Poor Supergirl actually sounds like she might cry. "League policy."

"I'm pretty new at this," I lie, turning my head so she knows I'm looking directly at her when I speak, "why don't you tell me what exactly the policy is?"

"All heroes sanctified by the Justice League must abide by their terms and restrictions including investigations and emergencies," she rattles off quickly, like a good sidekick.

I make to take a step back, bored with the conversation. "Oh, well, I suppose now I'll _have_ to let you in."

Aqualad frowns at my sarcasm. "Just who do you think you are? Aren't you the least bit concerned with what happened to Batman?"

"No," I lie easily, even though my stomach twists on the inside.

"Well, we tried talking to him," Speedy says, notching an arrow. "Now time for plan B."

I stare at he points the arrow at me. My stomach twists again but this time for a whole different reason. "You're going to fight me?" I ask, incredulous.

"Not if we don't have to," Supergirl's feet have left the ground and her eyes are starting to get red, threatening to cook me with lasers. 

"Just let us into the Cave, dude," Kid Flash adjusts his goggles. 

Aqualad is preparing for a fight too, his twin two foot long poles in his hands and looking like they're ready to do some damage. The rain drops bend towards the poles like their attracted to them. 

These guys sure do look threatening. It's almost a relief that they don't know who I am. Still, kinda sucks to fight them...

I reach down to my utility belt and in one smooth move, pull out a smoke bomb and throw it at the ground. A hissing noise ensues and black smoke engulfs us. Not white smoke like in plays or movies, but black smoke. That way civilians don't wander over, going "Where'd all this fog come from?" Black smoke doesn't make them want to be curious enough to find out. 

I get out of there as quickly and quietly as I can. I can hear them shouting out to each other through the pitched blackness. I make towards the tree line when suddenly something clips me in the shoulder. I spin around, my armor and padding having protected me from most of the blow. It's a red arrow. Speedy fired at me blind?

No, not blind. I curse myself for being so stupid. Supergirl has X-ray vision. I ready in her file that she's not as advanced as Superman and she can't see through solid objects but apparently she can see perfectly fine through smoke. 

I turn and run, grabbing a low hanging limb as I do so and flip myself in the trees. I run from branch to branch with perfect balance. It almost comes second nature to me to feel my feet grip each crevice and calculate how hard I have to push in order to reach the next one. 

As I run, I think of my options. Leading them to the city would be good, since I can probably lose them there. I know the terrain better than they do. But I would have to run the whole way since I can't summon my motorcycle. It would way too obvious that Nightwing doesn't drive a bright red bike with a yellow R on the side. Stupid, why did Batman have to make me so recognizable? 

My other option is the Bat-mobile, but even I'm not ready for that. It would make him seem like he's really...gone. No, I guess I'm going to stick to hoofing it. 

Luckily, my training included _lots_ of running. I'm already light on my feet and since I'm not super strong, I have to rely on my speed. My cape billows behind me, probably making me look really awesome but slowly me down at the same time. 

But I know Rule 658: You'll regret the day you forget your cape. It might save your life.

Or kill me, very slowly. I'm only just starting to get winded by the time I start seeing some buildings appear. I take the nearest fire escape and scrabble to the roofs for some more leaping. Supergirl may be able to fly, but her friends can't. Maybe this will slow them down. 

After a while, the buildings start getting higher, and I turn my leaping motion into a front flip to get more air. I pause on the top of an insurance agency headquarters to catch my breath. I had to have lost them by now, right?

Then I hear panting and low voices not far behind me. They're trying to be quiet and doing a really bad job of it. 

I pull out my grappling hook and shoot it at the closest skyscraper. Luckily, I've had lots of practice doing something like that. It's harder than it looks. The hook sticks in the first try. 

I jump off the building and reel myself up, Batman's tech making only the smallest whirling noise as it yanks me up the side of the building. 

As soon as I get to the top of the building, I jump off. Simple avoidance techniques. Do the unexpected. After all that work of getting to the top, nobody following me would think I would just jump off the next second. 

As I fall, I press a finger to my left hand wrist and my cape stiffens. I gently hang-glide down to the next to closest building and continue like that until I'm on the ground once more. The cape might not save my life, but it did give me a fun way to show off. Some people _ooh_ and _aww_ when they see the familiar black cape swooping through the air. I also feel sort of guilty, like I'm tricking them all into thinking that everything's okay, that nothing happened to the Bat. 

I roll when I hit the asphalt of a side alley and pop back up quickly. There, that had to have lost them now. 

I reach behind my back to hit the release button that un-stiffens my cape. (It's on the back so I don't accidentally hit it in midair and plummet to my doom.) But as I do so, my hand brushes against a small round object stuck to my shoulder. I pull it off and study it. 

Well, I had wondered why Speedy was shooting me with dull arrows. Seemed pointless. Guess not. I frown at the tracker in my fingers. So that's how they're following me. 

With one swift motion I throw the tracker on the ground and crush it with my foot. It makes a satisfying crunching noise. 

I crouch down low in the shadows and freeze, becoming invisible. I watch the people of Gotham go about their daily lives. It may be raining, but we here in Gotham aren't going to let that stop us from taking a leisurely stroll. 

Suddenly, I hear a woman's scream, not far off. Then a man calling for help. I see some civilians go for their phones, ready to call the police, but I'm already on the move.

Taking a backstreet, I shimmy up a drainage pipe to the roof of an apartment building. From there, I'm able to pinpoint the screams when I hear them again. 

I rush across rooftops until I'm directly over where the screams are centered. I look down, getting a feel for the situation. 

I immediately get the sense that something's not right. The man and woman are middle aged and wealthy, but they don't carry themselves with any type of confidence at all. Usually, wealthy people think money will get them out of any situation with ease. They're clothes are clearly upperclass, but that doesn't explain why they're in this slum neighborhood. Not to mention the man robbing them has a gun pointed at them but he doesn't seem to care that they're screaming for help. In fact, he hasn't moved, still standing completely still and at ease, not shouting at the woman to hand over her necklace or the man his wallet. 

But...I have to do something. Batman doesn't usual interfere with normal crimes unless someone is really in danger. But he always makes an exception for armed robberies. No matter what we're doing, he has us stop and take out the man (or sometimes even woman) quickly and harshly. I once asked Alfred about it, and he said that the Bat had a hard childhood. I don't know what that means, but I have my suspicions. 

I just about to measure up the guy with the gun to see if I can take him out from a distance when suddenly a girl's voice echoes through the alley.

"Stop, in the name of Justice!" 

Oh no. I sink farther into the shadows and groan softly to myself as I watch the Sidekick Brigade come jogging up (flying, in Supergirl's case). 

The robber and even the man and woman getting robbed stare at them in confusion. "What are you doing in Gotham?"

Supergirl now looks unsure. "Saving...you?"

The robber lowers the gun and spins around to point it at Aqualad. I expect the couple to run away, but they don't. The actually pull out concealed weapons as well and point them at Kid and Speedy. Stupid, I didn't even think to check them for weapons even though they were acting suspicious. 

Now everyone in the situation is confused. 

"Well, you guys ain't the sidekick we were sent here for..." The fake robber sneers. "But you kids will do just as fine. Saves us a trip."

"Enough talk. Enlighten us, would you?" Speedy asks, arrow notched, but unsure who to point it at. 

The robber smirks. "You think I'm that dumb kid? Now come quietly or I shoot his kneecaps out," he gestures with the gun at Aqualad.

"Who do you think has faster reflexes?" Kid Flash asks confidently. 

The woman answers, "You take one step and I'll shoot you too."

They seem to be stuck. Time for me to interfere. 

I grab some throwing stars from a pocket on my belt and throw all three at once. All three guns clatter to the ground but before the surprised bad guys can even utter a word, I'm on them. 

The first man, the one who was posing as the terrified richy-rich guy, is easy to take out. Limited training in boxing it seems. He gets one nice hit in, but my fake muscles act like I'm wearing full catcher's gear and I don't even feel it. One swift uppercut and he's out for the count. The woman is a a little harder. She's at least a black belt in karate and knows some pretty good defensive moves. She grabs my arm and tries to flip me, but I roll in the air with it and land on my feet only to grab her other arm and flip her in practically the same move. Her head smacks into the brick alley wall. 

By this time, the others have awoken from their day dream and are taking down the robber guy, who seems to be the toughest assailant. He's doing pretty well for a non-powered human. 

It doesn't help that the four of them keep getting in each other's way. Speedy keeps trying to be involved in the fight, even though he's better suited for long range assaults. Kid could get some good hits in if he stopped running around and actually hit the guy. And Aqualad is being too cautious, like he doesn't want to accidentally hurt him.

Supergirl is hovering above, trying to offer advice. That's smart; at least she knows that supers with powers like her's aren't needed in every fight. But I also know from her file that she has very little experience actually fighting someone. She's saved children in school buses, people in burning buildings, even cats in trees. But I don't think she's ever been in an actual combat situation. 

I watch them for a few more moments before deciding that it'll take them too long to finish this. I step forward and hit a pressure point on the back of the guy's neck, making him drop like a sack of potatoes. 

Speedy looks disappointed. "But I totally had him."

"Right," I grunt. 

Aqualad sounds disgruntled as he says, "It was not necessary for you to interfere."

"Right," I say again.

Supergirl flies down, frowning. "Well, that was odd. I wonder why they wanted to trick us into helping them just so they could jump us."

"I dunno," I say, "but I'm about to find out." I bend down and grab the guy by the front of the shirt and hoist him to his knees. He's unstable, so I have to support him somewhat. His legs and arms might not work but his mouth and eyes do. 

"Please, be reasonable now. I meant them kids no harm..." He squints at me. "Wait, you're not Batman. Who are you?"

"I'll ask the questions." Using my foot, I flip the gun he dropped earlier in my hand. It's dented on one side from where my throwing star hit it. He gun feels wrong in my hand and almost dirty. I swallow back bile as I cock it. He gets the message, eyes wide.

"Why did you try to set us up?" I ask, my voice still deep from my vocal modifier. 

"Set you up? No—I..." The guy stops when I shake him hard by the front of his shirt. 

"Don't lie," I say. "My trigger finger's getting antsy."

He pales and chokes out, "Our orders were to capture Batman's sidekick along with every other sidekick to a Justice League hero."

"Well, you have found them," Aqualad says darkly. 

The robber blinks. He looks me up and down. "Then who are you?"

"He's Batman's sidekick, Nightwing," Kid Flash says.

"What? But that's not Batman's sidekick. He's—"

I clap my hand over his mouth. "We obviously can't trust him. He'll spit out nothing out but lies."

Supergirl glares at me. "We obviously can't trust you either? You _lied_ to us! You said you were the sidekick to Batman."

The guy tries to bit down on my hand and he swears when he practically breaks his teeth on my glove. 

Supergirl walks over. She pulls my hand away from the guy without any trouble, being super strong and all. "Tell me, who is Batman's real sidekick."

I sigh. Batman's Rule Number 323 is if you have a confession to make, make sure your the one to make it. Otherwise it'll become an accusation. "You really want to know," I ask, "fine. I'll tell you." I unwrap the full mask from my head. I'm still wearing my smaller mask underneath though. I look at Superigirl who gasps when she recognizes me. 

"You! You're that...guy...." She bits her lip.

"Seriously? You don't remember?" I cross my arms. 

"I do—I do. It's...Bird Boy, right?"

"No," the robber guy says from where he's slumped up against the wall. He's staring at me. "Robin." He gives a gurgling laugh. "First comes the anagnorisis, and the peripeteia soon shall follow."

We stare still him. A few moments ago he had seemed perfectly sane, and now he's spouting nonsense. Maybe I had shaken a screw loose when I was fighting him. I remove the voice modifier and speak in my normal voice. "Who sent you to do this?"

The guy shakes his head wildly. "No...they'll kill me...no..." 

"Who? Who are you talking about? It's either their secrets or your insides." I gesture to make sure he knows I'm holding the gun but I still don't point it at him. It just doesn't feel right. 

The robber doesn't seem to suspect my apprehension. He goes pale at the sight of the gun and mumbles something under his breath.

"What'd he say?" Kid asks.

"Speak up!"

"I don't know! I don't know who payed us, we just take the money. No questions." I can see his resolve crumbling.

"What happened to the League members?" I ask. 

"Didn't know anything happened to them at all."

"How many goons like you three are out there?"

"Dunno, hundreds? In every city. Gathering up all the other sidekicks right now, I suppose."

I look up, alarmed and turn to Supergirl. She looks as shocked as I feel. "Try to contact them," I say.

She nods and brings out the device that she used as a GPS earlier. "This is Supergirl. All sidekicks please respond. This is an emergency."

Nothing but static. Just like I heard in my last call from Batman. 

The guy groans. "We're the only ones that failed. Great. No payment."

I give him a look that makes him make a face like he's trying to swallow his tongue. I crouch down in front of him. "Are we the only ones left?"

"Yes—I mean other than independent heroes, and they'll be taken care of too, soon. It's a dangerous time to wear tights." He chuckles at his own joke, still slouched and prone against the wall. 

Aqualad gives him a look of disgust. "Why would someone do this? What is their motive?"

"They don't pay me enough to ask who's mind is wacky enough to hunt heroes," the guy says. 

"Why do they like Robin so much?" Speedy asks, giving me a sideways look. 

The guy's eyes glaze over. "Robin...first comes the anagnorisis, and the peripeteia soon shall follow."

"Yeah, we got that one already." I frown. "He doesn't know much. My guess is there's some type of brainwashing happening to him every time they give him his 'payments'. I doubt he's received a penny. That's when the automatic response to my name has been programmed as well."

The goon's eyes have gotten wider and his face paler with every word I've said. "Brainwashing... _no_ _payment_...?"

"Sorry buddy," Kid Flash says. 

"What should we do with them?" Speedy points at the two unconscious people and the guy still slumped against the wall. 

I glance at them. "The woman's out cold, the one guy will be out for another minute or so, and this guy's already got most of his feeling back in his body but is pretending otherwise so that he can surprise us."

He jumps up as soon as I say this, but Speedy reacts fast and kicks him hard in the chest and he hits the wall and lies still. He smirks at me. "Told you I had him."

I resist rolling my eyes. "Come on. We should get out of here. These guys won't be out for long."

Aqualad eyes me warily. "What do you suggest we do?"

"As this guy so adequately put it, it's no longer safe to wear the tights. We need somewhere where we'll be safe." I ground my teeth together. "We're going to the Bat-cave."

Kid Flash frowns. "But I thought you said that place was a big no-no."

"It...it is. But desperate times call for desperate measures." Rule 46. "Now come on." I pull myself up onto the closest fire escape. After a moment's hesitation, the others follow.

Something is severely wrong. And I'm beginning to think the only way to solve this problem is by taking a closer look at those security tapes from when the Bat disappeared...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, Nightwing appears for a hot minute. What is happening to the Justice League? Why are the sidekicks being targeted? The mystery continues...  
> Please leave comment and kudos!


	5. Mi Bat-cave es su Bat-cave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin and the gang start to unravel the mystery Batman left behind for them to solve.  
> .........  
> I don't want to be alone. "Fine. Fine, fine, fine." I peel away my mask and meet each one of their gazes. It's now or never. "My real name is Dick Grayson."

I'm sitting at the computer, changing back into my normal Robin uniform. I ditched the fake muscles and I feel back to my old, slightly disappointing-looking self. 

I made the others wait outside for me while I did so. I had accidentally left my uniform in the connected Wayne Manor which might have been awkward (it being a whole secret identity crisis thing). But after I'm changed, I immediately seal off the tunnel that leads to the mansion and press the button to let the four of them in. 

Their jaws drop to the floor as they look around. I've practically grown up in here, so I don't see anything too amazing anymore. 

There's Batman's various weapons and gadgets hanging up against one wall. That isn't even all of them either. The wall actually rotates around and has two other sides. 

Those weapons are in the front of the Cave for easy access. After that, the Cave really opens up. 

A metal walkway runs, suspended over the water, in all directions. On the sides of the Cave, parked next to various doorways out of here, are a helicopter, a boat, a tank, a plane, a motorcycle, and, of course, the Bat-mobile. All painted the classic Batman black. 

On the other side of the cave are Batman's computers which can hook up to any system in the world. The monitor overhead right now is alerting me that people who's biometric signatures don't match the database have entered the Cave. I sigh and deactivate it. 

"So this is the Bat-cave." Kid Flash suddenly becomes a blur. When he speaks again, he's over next to the car. "Is this _the_ Bat-mobile?"

"Yeah," I say. "Please don't touch it. Don't touch anything actually."

"Do you live here?" Supergirl asks, looking around in wonder. 

"Yeah—I perch in the rafters and Batman hangs from the ceiling. No, we have an actual house to live in. Do _you_ live in the League headquarters?"

Supergirl blushes and turns away from me. 

"She was just asking, Robin," Aqualad says, his voice sounding like he's scolding me. 

Now it's my turn to look away. I scan the monitors, half hoping there will be a message from Batman on one. "I've gone to get some more milk, don't wait up." But there's nothing. 

The monitors instead show a steady stream of security camera feeds from all around the Bat-cave, the mansion, and Gotham. 

"So what now?" Speedy asks. 

There's silence for a few moments before Aqualad says, "We need to formulate a plan."

"But what?"

"Well, what do we know?"

"All the League members have disappeared without a trace. And I think it's safe to assume that the same thing has happened to the remaining sidekicks." Supergirl looks like she was trying to reach them again on her device. "Nobody else, it seems, was taken."

"That's not exactly true," I say. I've been watching the feeds from Wayne Manor and my suspicions have been confirmed. "My butler's gone."

"Your butler?" Speedy frowns at me. "Seriously? You're worried about that?"

Alfred was like family to me. He was the one bridge between both my worlds of being Dick Grayson and Robin. "It shows that he saw something so whoever took Batman felt like they had to cover their tracks. Makes them—whoever they are—seem a little bit more human if they can make mistakes like that. Plus, Alfred could have been used for leverage to get Batman to cooperate since—" Alfred was practically like a father to Bruce. But I can't say that. The others frown at me.

"If we are the last five true League superheroes left, I think we shouldn't have any secrets between us," Aqualad says.

I snort. Rule 867: people who don't have secrets aren't worth knowing.

"I agree," Supergirl says and the other two nod. 

"I think...well, since it's obviously so dangerous being dressed and parading like a hero...perhaps we should drop the whole disguise thing. Just for a little while," Kid Flash adds hastily, seeing our faces, "and do some incognito work. We should be able to depend on each other. So we should try to trust each other with our identities."

I'm not sure I like where this is going. The others are nodding like it makes sense.

Kid Flash takes off his goggles and pulls off the hood-like part of his costume so we can see his slightly round face covered with freckles. "My name is Wally West."

"I am known by Kaldur'am." Aqualad bows his head slightly. "But you all may call me Kaldur."

"My name is Kara Zor-El," Supergirl adds, smiling slightly. 

"And I'm Roy Harper," Speedy sighs, like he's just going along with the others. He peels away his mask. 

They all look at me expectantly. 

"Uh, yeah, nope." Too many of Batman's rules have been broken. If he's alive, he'll kill me for just showing myself to them.

"Robin," Kara says softly, "we're all that's left between whatever took the Justice League and the people of the world. But if we're to succeed, we're going to have to make the sacrifice of the mask and the safety that comes with it. We need you, Robin."

I watch her eyes for a moment and gather that she's being sincere. I feel hopelessness seep through me. We really are all that's left. I suddenly feel so lonely. I feel the same need I felt earlier, the want of real friends that know both halves of me. I don't want to be alone. "Fine. Fine, fine, fine." I peel away my mask and meet each one of their gazes. It's now or never. "My real name is Dick Grayson."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter. How will the other teens react to learning Robin's secret identity? Find out next time ;)  
> Kudos and comments are a blessing!  
> Thank you!


	6. We Decide to Join a Club

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Identities are revealed and we get to learn more about Batman's final hour.
> 
> ***************
> 
> They're all gaping at me.
> 
> "Dick...how the heck did you do that?" Wally sputters.
> 
> "That was incredible," Kara says, her face breaking out into a huge smile. "And you got all that from just a two minute video?"

"Cool," Kara says. "So our next step is..."

They all took it so lightly. But that was the biggest secret of my life. Of course, I realize, they already knew each other's identities. It's no big deal for them, telling people who they are. But my mind is still reeling and my heart is still beating much too fast. 

"Dude, you awake?" Wally nudges me. 

I blink, resurfacing. "What?"

"I asked if you have any evidence on camera of what happened to Batman?" Kaldur gestures to the monitors. "I mean, you do possess the knowledge to use these devices, right?"

I nod. "Yeah, since I was eight."

"When was that, a year ago?" Roy says sarcastically. 

I glare at him and start typing, pulling up the footage for Bruce's study. "What I am about to show you, you must never tell _anyone_ about. Or Batman will hunt you down and cut out your tongue so you never tell anyone anything ever again." They look at me nervously, like they think I might be joking. But I'm dead serious. I'd even help Batman do it. Slowly, they nod. 

"Okay." I hit enter and the monitor plays back the footage from a couple of hours ago. 

It's Batman, sitting at his desk. At _home_. Without a _costume_. Their eyes widen. 

"I always knew he was handsome," Kara mutters, but the others stay silent. 

I fast forward through the part where he tries to call me. He's looking out the window. I frown. There's a huge cloud of fog rolling in over the hills. Almost like it's a living thing. It's coming right for the house.

Bruce puts down his earpiece and looks around the room. He does a motion that I didn't see the first time I watched the playback. A double tap to his left shoulder. To an outsider, it almost looks like he vainly brushing himself off. But I know better. 

I watch as my mentor bends down to look at the computer screen, and grabs his extra utility belt from a hidden compartment under his desk. He slings it over his shoulder—like he taught me to do in emergencies—and then turns to face the window and the oncoming fog.

Then there's a knock at his office door and Alfred's voice is heard. "Sir, there's someone here to see you—"

Then the feed cuts off and we're staring at a screen filled with static. 

"Well..." Roy says eventually. "That told us nothing."

"Did you see how commando he got at the end? So awesome," Wally says. "He was all dramatic and sacrifice-y."

"Be nice," Kara elbows him and nods at me. "You alright, Dick?"

"Fine," I manage, staring at the snow filled screen, trying to process my thoughts. 

Kaldur places a comforting hand on my shoulder. "It is alright. I didn't expect to find anything in the footage anyways."

I shake him off. "No, you're wrong. There was actually a lot there." I look at each of them. "What, none of you saw it?"

"Saw what?"

I sigh and square my shoulders. This is just like how Batman would test me. Show me a tape and tell me to tell him what I figured out from it. This is just routine. That thought actually makes me feel better. 

"Batman knows he's being recorded. He put the camera there himself. From his worried but not surprised manner, in can deduce that he knew whatever that fog was and didn't like it. He knows that when I found him gone, I would check all the security footage searching for discrepancies." I rewind the footage until it shows Batman brushing off his shoulder again. "This is our hand signal for the room being bugged. It means that whatever follows bears special significance to the manner at hand." Rule 145, word for word.

"Then he looks down at the computer screen. Not a coincidence. Watch his eyes. Notice how they don't go to the top right hand corner of the screen, like one would if they were closing out of a program. Instead they follow the pattern of someone saving a document." I zoom in on his face. "See, top left, then middle left, continue to middle for confirmation. His eye movements are over-exaggerated, and he went through the trouble of taking the long way to save something. He clearly wants me to know that whatever he was looking at is important. 

"And him slinging the utility belt over his shoulder like that signifies that this is an emergency, but really anyone can figure that out with the whole looming fog and last stand pose he strikes up." I glance over my shoulder, wondering if they're rolling their eyes at me. Batman would always point out something I missed. But I quickly swivel around when I see the looks on their faces. "What's wrong?" I ask, alarmed. 

They're all gaping at me. 

"Dick...how the heck did you do that?" Wally sputters. 

"That was incredible," Kara says, her face breaking out into a huge smile. "And you got all that from just a two minute video?"

"Uh, yeah." I'm blushing now. I don't think I've ever gotten praise like that before. The most Batman's ever done is say, "Do it like that on the field and it probably won't get you killed." It's actually a little awkward. 

"You truly are a sidekick to Batman, " Kaldur says, shaking his head in wonderment.

"Not bad," Roy mutters, but he's giving me a look that could almost be respect. 

"It's not that hard," I say, turning away from them, typing to avoid speaking.

"So what was the file? Should we go to that study to—"

"I've already pulled it up," I say. Immediately, a familiar logo fills the screen. I push away from the computer. Now I'm confused. I expected to be some track record of a criminal, or perhaps a huge picture of some evil guy who wants revenge on the League. I should have known Batman would be less obvious. 

It's a webpage. A webpage belonging to a school's website. The list of all the after school clubs. 

"Gotham Central High School?" Roy reads out loud, sounding just as confused as I feel. "A public school?"

"Right next to _my_ school," I choke out. "That's where our next clue is?"

"You're in high school?" Wally glances at me. "But you said you were thirteen."

I know what he's thinking. He wasn't the youngest for once. "I am. My school and Central are arch rivals."

"And you're school is..."

I sigh and grimace as I say, "Gotham Academy for Gifted and AcceleratedChildren." It's like an advanced middle school that competes with everyone on the high school level.

The look on their faces is exactly the reason why I don't tell people where I go to school. Like when Bruce used to take me to charity balls or social gatherings, all I had to do was say I went to the Academy and suddenly I'm hailed like a genius. Don't get me wrong, there are some genii at the Academy, but most of the kids are just rich and had mommy and daddy buy their way into the school. That's why we have a problem with Gotham Central. One year, our little wimpy private school football team beat theirs in the championship. Total upset. The same year, their debate team beat out ours at the finals (there actually is a genius, Wanda Wrozonski, on the debate team, but she was sick that week). Everyone was screaming fouls and fair play and we've been basically enemies ever since. 

The thing is, the kids who go to the private school apparently aren't that smart but are athletic, and the kids going to public were apparently brilliant and lethargic. It broke stereotypes everywhere. Ever since then, our schools have always managed to go head to head in every championship-final-contest there is. I myself have even led the scholastic team to victory against them.

So of course I couldn't help but get caught up in the bitterness myself. But I wasn't about to say anything to the others. Already I could see them starting to view me as a pompous, pampered, private school prat. 

"So what could the clue be?" Kaldur asks, leaning in to the screen. 

"Looks like a list of the clubs," I say, shaking myself out of my thoughts. 

"Why would Batman leave this as a clue?" Kara says. 

"Maybe he didn't and Bird Boy brought up the wrong thing," says Roy.

"No, this is it." I had uploaded a direct link from the Bat's computer. A simple ten digit passcode was all it took. DynamicDuo. The nickname Batman says he wants us to take when I go public. 

Wally's eyes are a blur as he reads through the list. "Seems pretty normal to me."

Kara lifts off the ground slightly so she can see over our heads. "Maybe it's encoded or something."

I'm shaking my head before she's finished. "Nope. This is a legitimate website." I scan the screen, searching for minor discrepancies. Something out of the ordinary. "Wait a minute..." I bring the mouse down to hover next to a specific club. "Check it out. See anything?"

Roy squints at the screen. "eYawn? _'The club for online sleepers. Are you bored with technology? Sign up for eYawn to have some quality face to face time with other people and play fun games such as Monopoly! No phones allowed!'_ What am I suppose to be seeing?" 

"A club where you play board games and can't have your phone with you? Yuck," Wally sniffs. 

I sigh. Do they really not see it? "eYawn. It's an anagram for Wayne. Batman's real last name. And that's not all. There's only three people in the club."

"I'm not surprised," Wally says. 

I roll my eyes. "Even the chess club has more members than that. But what I mean is that the box below says 'not admitting any new members'. With only three people?"

"Maybe they like close knit groups," Kaldur suggests. 

"Never make assumptions," I say. Rule 664. "And they just so happen to be meeting today at three."

We automatically look at the clock. 3:07. 

They exchange looks. 

"We might as well check it out," Kaldur says. The others nod their consent. 

I smirk. "Great. Now we need to change."

"Why?" Kara seems surprised. She looks down at her red, white, and blue ensemble.

"He means we can't go to a normal school dressed like this," Roy says, catching on. Look who's the smart one.

I look them over. "Um, I don't think any of my clothes will fit you guys." They're all bigger than me except for Kara, but she's a girl, and I'm not sure if she would want my clothes. 

"That's fine. Flash has me store extra clothes all over town," Wally says.

"Same," Roy says and Kaldur and Kara nod in agreement. 

"But we shouldn't go out alone," I say. "There might still be people about looking to trap us like that fake robber guy."

Kaldur nods. "We shall go together to each of the places. Watch each other's backs." Kaldur frowns. "After all, we're all we have left."

And on that happy thought, we depart. 


	7. We Meet Some Kids Who Think They're Cool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We almost die and I get a confusing code
> 
> *********  
> The room has heated up considerably now.
> 
> "We have to go!" Kaldur shouts over the humming.
> 
> I am only vaguely aware of the movement around me. The pattern is all I can concentrate on. It'll lead me to Batman, to Alfred, to the only family I have left...
> 
> "Robin!"

Luckily, we change fast. It literally took Wally two seconds to change into a loud Hawaiian shirt and cargo pants. Kara went into a bathroom a superhero and emerged a cheerleader—pink skirt and all. Kaldur looked more normal with his hoodie and jeans but his white hair would make him stand out. Roy let him borrow a baseball hat when he changed. He himself put on the whole leather-jacket-and-sunglasses look which he claims to have just thrown together, but he took even longer than Kara. 

We stop by my house for me to change. I grab something out of my closet and throw it on. I slick back my hair out of my face. When I'm Robin, I just leave my hair alone. It's getting long on top and I have to brush it to the side to stop it from falling into my eyes. But when I'm in civilian mode, I have it combed back off my face. Batman always said that hair is one way we get used to recognizing people's faces. That's why when he's going undercover, he grows out a beard. You'd be surprised just how much facial hair changes the shape of someone's face. 

I emerged from my room and close the door quietly. The house feels so empty without Alfred clopping around downstairs or Bruce typing in the study. 

Everyone is sitting in the family room, talking in low voices, discussing the plan of action. They seems uncomfortable in the roomy, formal area. They look up as I enter. 

Kara looks me over. "Not bad." She smirks. "But I thought we said we were going casual."

I look down at myself. Khakis with a navy blue polo. "This _is_ my casual." Everything else in my closet are either suits or my uniform for school. 

"What, do you wear that when you go down to the country club?" Roy asks sarcastically. 

I'm about to reply with a pithy comment like " _yes_ " when Kaldur interrupts us. 

"Enough. We must think of something. It is now 3:20. Who knows how long the...eYawners...will be meeting."

"I say we confront them and be all like, 'Hey do you guys know the Batman?' And then they'll say yes and we can all go save the world," Wally says, matter-of-factly. He's eating an entire family size bag of potato chips. He must have gotten into the pantry while I was changing. 

Roy snorts, "That's dumb."

I shrug. "I dunno, we don't really have enough info to formulate a real plan. Maybe it would be better just to wing it." I make a face. That's the closest Batman ever comes to a joke. A bat pun. _Wing it_. I'm disgusted that it's rubbed off on me.

"Okay...but we should have a cover. 'We're just really interested in joiner the eYawners and we think it can really help us become better people and stuff.'" She twirls a lock of hair in her fingers, her voice sounding very...stereotypical blond cheerleader. "How's that sound?"

Kaldur grins. "Perfect."

"But how are we going to get there? I mean, I'm all fueled up and ready to run, but I can't carry all of you," Wally says, tossing an empty bag of chips to the side.

"We'll drive, obviously," I say. Then I pause and look at Roy. "Oh, and by the way..." I take his license out of my pocket and hand it to him. He turns red with anger and embarrassment. 

"You might want to hold onto that," I warn, "You'll never know when you're going to need it."

"You sly little—"

"Dick," Kaldur interrupts again, "can you drive? Roy is still a little...out of practice." He looks at his friend apologetically. 

I cock an eyebrow. "Of course. Just name the car. We can't take the Bat-mobile for obvious reasons, plus Batman would kill me... Oh, I know which one we should take." I else them all through the house tothe garage. Batman has his line of vintage cars all lined up and pretty. I select an old SUV; it's sporty but not flashy. 

"Dude." Wally states, hopping in as soon as I unlock it. "You are officially my best friend."

"But I thought you were only thirteen," Kara says. Why do they keep bringing up my age?

"According to the city of Gotham, I'm seventeen but have a severe case of dwarfism." I show her the license. "I'm legal." I get behind the wheel and start the car. I grin as I adjust the mirrors. They're all set for someone taller. 

Roy slides into the back and buckles his seatbelt. "God save us all."

 

We arrive at the school at 3:29. The entire time Roy was preaching traffic laws at me (which I ignored) and Kara kept pointing out signs like, "Hey, that was a stop sign. Can you see the speed limit? Um, wasn't that light red?" Honestly, it was sort of insulting. Batman says I drive fine. But, then again, it's not like any cop would dare pull him over in the Bat-mobile. I'll have to ask Alfred how I do if he's still...

I shake myself out of my reverie before I start getting upset. We're crouched in the bushes beside Gotham Central, looking totally inconspicuous.The doors are locked and no ones there to let us in. I tried to persuade the others to let me just go up and pick the lock, but Kaldur started lecturing me on the values of patience and I let the subject drop. I have plenty of patience (heck, sitting still for hours in a small space was part of Batman's training), but we had a time limit here. Luckily, someone finally walked up. 

"Wally, go," Kaldur hisses. 

Wally speeds across the lawn, catching the door right before it closes. The rest of us follow a little slower and slip inside. 

"Room G24," Roy says, like we didn't know. 

"This way," I say, remembering the blueprints of the building I memorized before coming here. 

While walking, we encounter a few students and two teachers. But no one really pays us any mind. We do duck away from one strict looking guy with one of those lanyards with a whistle attached, but that's just common sense.

We pause outside G24. There's a curtain covering the window on the door. But lucky for us, Kara can see through fabrics and she confirms that there are three people inside the room. 

"Can you hear what they're saying?" I ask. 

Kara scrunches up her face. "A little. They're talking pretty low and not very clearly at all. Why do people mumble so much?"

I try to hide my impatience. "And they're saying...?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry. Um, they're talking about someone who was suppose to show up...and he's not there. And someone just said they'll have to call the meeting if he doesn't show up in the next five minutes."

"We better move then," Wally says and reaches for the door handle. He's not the kind to sit around. He opens the door and pushes his way in.

I don't know what I was really expecting. But I wasn't expecting this. It looks like three kids, just chilling out. One guy and two girls. All probably a year or so older than me. One girl with long, dirty blonde hair is tapping away on her phone. The other two look like they could be related, both with wide faces and darkish hair and skin. They almost have a Native American look to them. The boy has pushed two desks together and is lying on top of them like a bed and the girl is braiding her hair. 

The three look up as we enter. 

"Sorry to intrude," Kaldur says, elbowing Wally hard in the ribs. "Is this the eYawn club?"

"Yeah..." The boy's eyes flicker around at us. "And we're closed to new members."

"Hi, I'm Kara," Kara says suddenly. "And couldn't you just think about accepting me and my friends here? We really, really, _really_ want to join." She doing her cheerleader voice again and she's batting her eyes flirtatiously. 

"Uh, _no_ ," the blonde girl says. She has sharp, defined features, almost like a cat. Her eyes are a bright green."Can't you hear? We're not open to the public."

"Sorry," the other girl adds softly. Her eyes are on the ground, like she thinks we might disappear if she can't see us.

"But we really believe in what the eYawners stand for," Kaldur says. He says it so weird and straight faced though, no way they'll take him seriously. He sounds like he just asked to join a funeral procession.

I tune out their useless banter and study the room. It's a pretty standard classroom layout. Teacher's desk in the front corner, students desks all around with a utility closet on the side wall and a chalkboard in the front. But then my training kicks it and I start to pick up details. There's a layer of dust on the teacher's desk which gives proof that this classroom isn't used for school. I glance down at the carpet. It's different than the rest of the school's, almost newer. Lifting my foot up slightly, I hear an almost silent click. The floor is pressurized. Three people really are allowed only then, it seems. But us entering should have triggered the pressure pads. I look around and sure enough, several bug-sized cameras are positioned around the room at every discernible angle. There's an almost invisible line in the wall around them, proving that they most likely flip out when the motion sensors on the doorframe (which I now see were disguised as hinges) and the pressure pads are triggered. Indubitably, there are some weapons pointed at us somewhere. Most likely from the teacher's desk's sides and hidden behind the curtains on the window. 

I turn to look at the small camera positioned right over where we came in. Without even trying, I know it's out of my reach. "Hey, um, Kal. Could you get that for me?"

Kaldur turns around but Roy speaks before he can help me. "Drop it, Dick. You led us to the wrong place."

I raise an eyebrow. "I don't think so. If you could?" 

Kaldur stretches up and pulls the camera off the wall. Immediately, it starts to flash red and make a high-pitched keening. Kaldur stares at it in horror and then at me. "Why did you have me do that!"

I just hold out my hand for it and Kaldur practically throws it to me.

The boy has gotten off the desks now. "Hey, I would put that down if I were you. It's set to be a bomb—"

"Quick, everyone behind me," Kara says hurriedly. It's like the word _bomb_ is her activation word to go from pretty cheerleader to indestructible superhero. 

"No need," I say. I hold the button-like object at arms length away so that the camera is pointed at me. "Robin authorization number 64830027."

A beam of light shoots out from the camera and scans me up and down. "Authorized," a voice says and the camera immediately stops its squealing and flashing. 

All around us, the room goes back to looking nondescript. The cameras swivel back into the walls so that they're hidden from sight, there's a finalizing _click_ from the pressure sensors, locking them into place, and a whirring sound from the teacher's desk and from behind the curtains tells me we no longer have weapons aimed at us. 

"How did you..." The guy stares at us in amazement. Then he turns his gaze to settle on me. His eyes are startling pale blue. "Wait a minute, I know you. You're Dick Grayson, that genius kid who beat us practically singlehandedly in the scholastic decathlon two years ago."

"I remember," the cat-like girl says, "you were the only, like, eight-year-old on the team."

I start to turn red. "I was eleven actually." Honestly, I don't look that young, do I?

"Whatever. Still, you're an Academy rich kid. What are you doing at Central?"

"More importantly," the cat girl interrupted, "how did you know how to deactivate the bombs?"

"Trade secret," I say. We'd better play it safe with these kids. We don't know much about them and already they can assume too much about us.

"Are you like us?" The other girl looks up for the first time. She has pale blue eyes, just like the boy. 

"Like...you?" Kara asks. 

"Yeah. I'm Raina, this is Hunter and Cat." Her eyes flicker around the group. It gives me the willies when they settle on me. "You were trained like we were, except at the Academy."

Kaldur frowns. "Trained? Trained by whom?" 

"Batman," I mutter. 

The boy, Hunter, nods, confirming. "Yeah, Batman set up this club for us because of what we can do."

Of course, now it makes sense. It seems my earlier suspicions that Batman knew what was coming were correct. He planned for me to find these kids, sensing we would need a bigger team if we were to face whoever captured them. 

"You guys have powers, too?" Wally says slowly, "I mean, _super_ super powers?"

Cat nods. "Yup. So you guys have them too?"

"Yes," Kaldur says. "Some of us do. Other are specialities."

"That's...nice," Hunter says.

I frown at that. Batman warned me that I could get into more trouble than others not having powers and all. It's keeping up the illusion of being more than you appear that gives you the real power. I can't remember how many times as a kid I would think Batman could secretly read minds when in reality he was just really good at noticing clues. 

I study the three before me. "So what? You guys have some type of mental powers, right?" I nod to Hunter and Raina. Mental abilities are usually associated with strange features (like the eyes). But they would have used their powers, as soon as we started acting up and I activated the bomb. They must be limited by their senses somehow. Touch is the most common. Boys tend to get more physical powers and girls tend to get the whole mind control/reading bits. I take a guess, "So what, Hunter's got the ability to teleport what he touches and Raina can read the minds of those she touches? And what are you guys, siblings?"

Hunter stares at me. "No, we're cousins. But the rest is correct. How'd you do that?"

"Oh, my turn," Cat says. She steps in front of me eagerly. She's pretty and I automatically fall into my usual pattern I take when talking to girls.

"You, obviously, have feline powers. Probably not full transformative abilities but still great, and probably only come around with anger of other high emotions. Other than that though, you most likely have heightened senses and quick reflexes. I wouldn't be surprised if you could climb well either. You seem to be a girl of many talents." I give her my best smile and she blushes. 

Kara elbows me hard. "Ease up there, Grayson."

"That's incredible," Hunter says. "What's your power? Can you see into the future or read minds or something?"

"Something like that," I say, leaving it open to interpretation.

"Right, so you guys know Dick, the incredible showoff. I'm Kara, and this is Wally, Kaldur, and Roy."

"Nice to meet you," Raina says.

"So..." Kaldur says, trying to be casual and failing, "can you tell us a little about your training Batman does with you?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure. Batman's conditioning us to become sidekicks."

"We haven't actually gone out an saved anyone yet," Raina adds to her cousin's remark, "but we've really been working on getting a reign on our powers. You guys having the same trouble?"

"Yeah, it was really tough the first few years," Wally says, without thinking.

"Years?" Cat looks impressed. "Wow. We've only been at this for a few months. Batman would drop in after school and help us out. All very top secret, of course.

"He's a great teacher," Hunter says eagerly. 

"Ignore him," Cat says teasingly. "He just hopes Batman will choose him as a sidekick when all our training is done."

"Since, you know, he doesn't have one yet. He's one of the few members on the Justice League that doesn't." Hunter clasps his hands. "Oh man, it would be so cool. He's already hinted at it too."

I feel myself go numb. I pointedly look away and hope that for the sake of our identities, the others aren't stupid enough to look at me. But I tell myself it can't be true. Batman would never replace me. Unless, I think, that he's ashamed of me. Is that why he never let me go into public with him?Why we only did shady back alley jobs to stop criminals, and he made sure I was always out of the limelight? Because he was actually training another kid to replace me?

I crush that thought from my mind. Thinking like that will only distract me. 

"What about you?" Cat asks. "What was your training like?"

"Similar," I say. "Sidekick conditioning and whatnot."

"What about your powers?" Raina asks, then blushes when we look at her. "Sorry, but it's just hard to believe that there are others out there, you know?"

"Oh yeah, I know what you mean." Kara glances at me. She seems to have caught on to what I'm doing. "My power is to fly. Well, hover really."

"I can control water," Kaldur says.

"I like to think I'm pretty fast." Wally winks at Cat. 

"Long-distance weapons specialist," Roy grunts.

They don't ask for my power which is fine by me. Assumptions are better made by the enemy. That's Rule 665. Right after "never make assumptions". Of course, these kids aren't necessarily enemies. But I'm not really the sharing type as it is. No matter what situation you're in, it always helps to have secrets (798). 

"So where is Batman? And why did you guys show up? Did something happen?" Hunter asks, sounding worried. 

Kaldur looks at me and clears his throat. "We don't really know."

"Darn right we don't. We were actually hoping you guys might though," Wally says. 

Raina shakes her head. "We haven't seen Batman since our last club meeting which was several months ago." 

I resist screaming in frustration. This is getting us nowhere. I start pacing the room in a huff. Moving always helps me clear my mind. None of the others pay me any mind. Already they're discussing what limited things they do know. This is ridiculous. It's nice that Batman wants us to have a bigger group but don't tell me he didn't leave a single clue as to what our next step is. I'm practically thirsting for guidance. I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't...

I pause. What's weird about this room? Cameras at every angle yet not a single one connects to the mainframe at the Bat-cave. That means there must be a room here somewhere. A place where Batman could duck into if he didn't want to be seen. After all, this is a pretty public place. His hiding spot would have to be close at hand...

"Has Batman ever been in here and then had to hide?" I ask loudly, interrupting whatever Roy was saying. Probably a complaint. 

"No," Cat says. Frowning, she looks at the others for confirmation. "He always times it just right so that nobody is near when we're doing training."

The cousins nod. "Yeah."

"Hmmm..." That means I'll have to figure it out on my own. Batman would still have the room, even if he never used it. He's a big fan of foolproof backup plans. 

I run my hands along the wall, feeling for any catches in the plaster. Anything that might signal a trapdoor or a secret latch. 

Everyone's watching me now, not sure what I'm doing but not daring to interrupt. 

The utility closet seems almost too simple a hiding place but I try there anyways. I jiggle the doorknob and it doesn't open.

"The door's always locked," Hunter says helpfully. As if I couldn't figure that out myself.

No problem. There are several things I never leave home without, even when wearing civilian clothes. Hidden in a sewed on pocket in the collar of my shirt is a set of lock picks. I also have a back up pair in my right shoe, my pant leg, and my sleeve. You never know sometimes. I rolled up my tech gloves and put them in my pockets before leaving the house. I also am carrying around a few smoke grenades, some throwing stars, my collapsible staff, a flash bomb, and an emergency cable line. But I can't exactly tell you where I'm keeping those. Trade secret. 

With my picks, I open the door easily. Supply closet locks aren't made with the idea of keeping out a lock-picking robber. I put them back in my collar before opening the door. 

Just as I thought. Normal. Shelves of textbooks and arts and crafts supplies. But still...maybe Batman chose this place because he knew people would think it's too obvious. They'd give it a quick glance and then dismiss it upon seeing their suspicions confirmed. Luckily, I've been trained never to give _anything_ a "quick glance".

Batman loves to make entrances unnecessarily difficult to enter. One way into the Bat-cave from the Manor involves going up to the library and playing some choice notes on the grand piano.

"Hey, do you guys happen to know what this classroom is used for?"

Raina answers, "Um, Batman had this room especially built around the time Bruce Wayne was remodeling the school. Apparently, the two know each other."

I honestly have to restrain myself to keep from banging my head against the wall. Seriously? How stupid can a person be?

Hunter pokes his head around. "This room in in the social sciences department so probably for that, right?"

Finally, someone who can make a reasonable inference. If only he hadn't said that little thing about being Batman's sidekick earlier, I would almost say he's a cool guy. 

"Perfect," I mutter. Then I say in a louder voice, "You guys can stop ogling and come over and help."

"Um, we don't know what exactly you're doing, Dick," Kaldur says, coming to join me. 

"I need to find a musical instrument." I go through some boxes filled with yarn. 

"Sure you do," Wally says. But he helps me look. 

Roy groans. "When did we stop questioning the stupid things he has us do?"

"When they actually started getting us somewhere." Kara brushes past him. "Come on."

"I can just summon an instrument," Hunter says, leaning against the doorframe, watching us. "I've touched plenty in the music room."

"No, it needs to be specific." I take down a large box labeled "puppets". 

Eventually, Wally finds it. He was zipping through faster than any of us, after all. "Here, is this what we're looking for?"

"Yes!" I take the flute from him. I then frown at the sparkles all over my hands. 

"It was with the glitter," Wally says, showing me his hands which are also bedazzled. 

I sigh. Glitter. The worst camouflage ever. Not to mention it sticks to _everything_. I look at the others. "I would step out of the way if I were you."

They do obediently. 

I bring the flute to my lips and play three distinct notes. The last note sounds off and makes the others wince when I hit it. But it gets the job done. 

The rack holding the textbooks creaks and rotates inward. I step forward through the narrow opening. Everyone else follows skittishly behind me. 

"Ha, I knew Batman had a place like this," Hunter says happily. I can barely hide my annoyance. If he really did know, why didn't he say anything?

The room is small, just a little bigger than the supply closet we just left. The chalkboard on the other side seems to be a one way mirror and we can see through into the room beyond. Screens line the walls, showing images of the school, the classroom, and even, to my surprise, of Gotham Academy. I recognize all my classes on the screens. I'm not really sure how I feel knowing that while Batman was training three new sidekicks unbeknownst to me, he was spying on my every move. 

"What now?" Cat whispers.

I'm standing right in front of the monitors showing my school. Batman would have known I would be drawn to those first. Sure enough, I glance down and there's a sticky note on a button. 

** Push and speak. **

I'm getting frustrated. Why can't he just be straightforward about things? Then I think...maybe he knew he wasn't safe. Maybe _he_ was the one being watched. He knew everything he told me would put me in danger, so I would have to figure the mystery out on my own. That thought almost makes up for him spying on me. Almost.

I clear my throat for silence from the others who have been voicing their own opinions for the last minute. 

I press the button. "Robin laid an egg." It's the code word for me being in trouble. Batman's is "the bat has flown the belfry" which in my opinion is a lot cooler and not as stupid as laying an egg. But I guess I sort of set myself up for that one, being a bird and all.

All around me, the screens start to flicker on and off different colors, and a seriously bad humming sound starts up. 

"Dick, I swear...you better not have set off another bomb," Roy saysgoing pale. 

"Please tell me you did not," Kaldur pleads. 

"I don't...think so..." I look around at the screens. Blue red orange red green purple blue red yellow green purple purple orange. Then it repeats. There's a pause sometimes between the colors too. Some flicker on fast than others. Weird. My eyes flicker around, searching for patterns. 

The humming has now increased to a near deafening pitch. 

"Um, guys, I think we should go," Raina says meekly. 

My head swivels back and forth. I think I'm saying the pattern out loud but I can't really tell. I can barely hear anything as it is. "Blue red orange red green purple blue..."

The room has heated up considerably now.

"We have to go!" Kaldur shouts over the humming. 

I am only vaguely aware of the movement around me. The pattern is all I can concentrate on. It'll lead me to Batman, to Alfred, to the only family I have left...

"Robin!"

Kara grabs me and easily lifts me, flying both of us out of the room. I snap out of it. 

"Put me down!"

"The room is going to explode and take the whole school with it!"

"No...it...won't!" I use a jiujitsu move to scramble out of her grasp. I roll and pop up, slamming my shoulder into the shelf that acts as the door. I lock knees and am able to just get it to close. There's a _click_.

Then a _boom_ shakes the building. I fall over and my forehead smacks into a textbook, leaving me dazed. 

Wally speeds inside. "Are you guys okay?"

Kara flies down. "Yeah. But Bird Boy almost got himself killed."

"The door...it's boom resistant," I say. Blood trickles down my brow and I wipe it before it can get into my eyes. "If I hadn't closed it, it would have blown up the entire school."

Roy comes in. "Kaldur is trying to calm down the newbies outside. Apparently, they don't live through explosions everyday. So what's the deal," he says to me, "is the Bat trying to off yah?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you lead us through a series of clues that only you would ever be able to figure out," Roy sits down on a desk. "And the end result is an explosion that could have killed us all."

"No, Batman wasn't trying to kill me," I say. "Once the sequence had been activated, it's standard procedure to get rid of the evidence."

"Sure. Maybe he was trying to off you to replace you with one of the new additions outside having a panic attack," Roy crosses his arms and shrugs. 

"Pretty elaborate plan, don't you think?" I glare at Roy. "I saw him just this morning, after all, and he could have killed me then."

"Both of you, cut it out," Kara says. Then she turns to Wally. "Can you go open up the nearest League safe-house? I hear sirens. We'll meet you there."

Wally nods quickly and is gone in a blur.

"Now, Dick," she turns back to me. "Why don't you work on solving that pattern of yours?"

I blink at her. "Right. Blue red orange—"

"No! I don't really want to hear it anymore. It's already burned into my retinas." Kara swoops out of the room. 

Roy and I look at each other, neither wanting to be left alone with the other, and we both make our way outside. 

"But it was going to explode!" Cat says in a loud voice. "Why didn't it explode?"

"I don't know—Kara! Dick! You guys alright?"

"Fine, Kaldur." Kara flies over. "Dick closed the door so the explosion was insulated."

"Good. Status report?" He looks to me. 

I wave him off, colors and patterns flashing through my mind. 

"Oh...did he memorize the patterns? Tell me them, maybe I can help! I'm practically a sidekick to the world's greatest detective, after all." Hunter comes up to me eagerly. 

Something inside me snaps. Maybe it was a combination of Roy's earlier comments and the fact that this Hunter kid is really grating on my last nerve. Whatever the reason, I break Rule 478: Never let the enemy know they got to you. 

I round on Hunter and get up in his face. He's taller than me (who isn't?) but he still takes a step back. "Look," I growl, "I've had a long and somewhat traumatizing day. Batman doesn't need a sidekick. He's got me. And even if he did, he wouldn't choose a panicky, eager little puppy like you." My voice grows so cold and emotionless that it almost freaks _me_ out. "So either give me some space to do what I've been trained to do for five years or come closer so I can rip that stupid smile off your face and shove it so far down your throat that you'll be grinning through a different pair of cheeks."

Hunter stares at me with a horrified expression on his face. I know what he's thinking. That sounded like a threat. And superheroes don't make threats. Super _villains_ do.

Kaldur steps in between us. "Dick, pull yourself together." 

I stumble back, shocked with myself. I guess after all these years of working with Batman—of working with professionals—the whining and shouting of the newbies drives me up the wall. I had wondered when I finally had friends that understood me, which side of me they would see: the pompous rich kid or the super know-it-all? I'm dismayed to find out that the real me seems to be a combination of the two. 

"I'm...sorry," I manage, running a hand through my hair. There's a lot of dried blood from my head wound.

"I don't get it," Raina says. Before, she was on the ground, rocking back and forth, but now she seems to have recovered. "You guys say you were trained the same as us. Yet, you all reacted like professionals to a bomb situation. And Dick just said that Batman doesn't need a sidekick because he has him." She rubs her temples and glares at us. "Someone better explain before I have to get the answer by other means."

The four of us exchanged looks. I look away shamefaced. I put us in this position. 

Kara clears her throat. "I don't know if there's a delicate way to do this...but—"

And suddenly, all our League alerts go off at once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAhhoo let's see if anyone can figure out what the hecks going on. Only I know hahahahaha


	8. Name's Sharp—Like the Cheese

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet someone who apparently knows Batman and learn about the villainous plot
> 
> *************  
> "They were after you kids. The League sidekicks. But most especially..." He turns to me. "Him."
> 
> I swallow. "Me?"

You can almost see it come over us, like a spell. Hope; hopelessness. Professionalism mixed with childishness. Each of us wanting the person on the other end of the call to be our mentor, perfectly fine, and yelling at us, asking why we missed training, where we are, why we blew our cover...while at the same time letting our sidekick manner, full of League and personal codes, wash over us. It's like putting on a different face.

Kaldur, Kara, and Roy take out their League badges. They're palm-sized, round and smooth, like a rock a child would pick it to skip across a pond. But it glimmers with a sort of inner light and is actually an extremely advanced piece of alien tech.

I take out my gloves from my pocket and pull them on. The holo-screen pops up. I frown. It's asking for verification. The only way it would do that is if there was a mole on the inside. That thought brings me crashing down to earth. Batman is not calling me. He is not okay. I still don't know where he is.

Kara glances at Hunter, Cat, and Raina. She was right in saying there's no delicate way in doing this. In fact, this was probably the least delicate way possible. She clears her throat. "Supergirl, M2."

"Aqualad, A2."

"Speedy, S2."

"Robin, G2."

The message opens up and an image appears on my screen while at the same time, a holo-image of a girl comes out of their badges. 

"This line is secure. I am Zatanna Zataya, and we have a Code Red." She's the magician girl I caught laughing at me just this morning. Now she looks pretty beat up. "I...I don't know who to trust. They're all gone, all the others."

"Zatanna, calm down," Kara commands. She glances at us. "What happened?"

I already know what she's going to say. "The villains...regular crooks and robbers that we've been stopping for years without problems...they suddenly will turn on you, and their victims did too. And they're assassins. They grabbed Guardian and all the others. I was able to teleport myself out of there..." She bursts into tears. 

"Zatanna, it's okay. We'll try to send you some coordinates for the League safe-house. Um..." Kaldur frowns at his communicator. 

I roll my eyes. "I've got it." I press a few buttons on my holo-screen and Zatanna looks down. 

"Okay, I just got them. I'll...I hope I see you guys soon."

"Kid Flash is already there," Kara reassures and hangs up.

Roy glances at me suspiciously. "How did you know which safe house we were talking about?"

I shrug as I put away my gloves. "Your communicators emit a high frequency radio wave. It's pretty easy to track if you know how. I just followed Kid Flash's."

Kara frowns. "Do the...bad guys know how?"

My eyes widen like this only just occurred to me. "They might." Everything I just said is true. But not entirely. I can track the communicators but I didn't know that until they were all turned on around me just now. But I'm not about to tell them that the real reason I could find Kid Flash is because I put my own personal trackers on all of them. Even though it is a safety procedure for if one of us were to be captured, they might take it the wrong way. 

Roy looks guiltily downat his shiny League symbol. "So I guess we should drop them."

I sigh. "That is highly advanced alien technology in your hand. Not a rock. You can't just 'drop them'." I hold out my hand for it. Roy (probably against his better judgement) hands me it. I run my figures over its smooth sides, marveling at the processor this thing must be holding. I flip it around and make a gesture with my hand. A keyboard pops up in German. After a few minutes of typing, I throw the communicator into the air. It hovers there for a second, then flies away. 

Roy watches it go. "Where's it going?"

"Back to the Hall of Justice to a secure location," I say. 

"How did you know how to work that?" Kaldur asks as I take his. 

I reprogram his and watch it fly away before answering. "All League members have the same badge, that's how they keep track of everyone. Once, Batman left his lying around and I tinkered with it for a few hours."

Kara hands her's to me. "Robin, you really are a man of many talents. And you speak German too?"

I glance at her but quickly look away. I can't tell if she was being sarcastic or not. "I only can read it. I can't do the accent without seeing it—"

"Hold up!" Cat throws her hands into the air. "You guys are _real, actual_ _sidekicks_?" 

Raina is chewing on her fingers and her cousin has a hand clapped over his mouth like he can't believe it. 

Hunter points at each of us. "I've seen you guys on TV! I can't believe I didn't see it earlier. Oh wow...except you...Robin?" He says my name and I get the feeling the hostility from my earlier threats hasn't warn off. "From the way you've been talking, I'm sensing you're saying you're _Batman's_ sidekick."

I stand up a little straighter. "Yeah. I am." 

Hunter shakes his head and looks like he's stifling a laugh. "But you're younger than any of us! I mean, Batman's so awesome and you...you're the geeky rich kid on the Academy's trivia squad!"

I feel my face burn. My mind is flickering from the code to my training. Rule 478...I can flip him right now...Rule 478...he's got his arm out and everything...Rule 478...go for the elbow and then break the wrist and turn the shoulder to pop it out of its socket...

Kaldur steps between us. "Robin—I mean Dick—is one of us. And he has already demonstrated multiple abilities that make him invaluable as a team member. However we have yet to see anything that you have to offer." Kaldur towers over Hunter. "Remember that."

Then he turns and stalks off. 

I almost laugh at the look on Hunters face. Then I trot off after Kaldur. 

What should I do? When Batman saves my skin or I save his in a situation, we don't say anything. We know that the other is grateful and that's that. But I feel like I should say something now. "Um, hey, Kaldur...thanks."

Kaldur turns on me, his face set. "We cannot have childish squabbles when lives are at stake. I know you are young but try to keep it professional." Then he turns as starts talking with Speedy.

Ouch, that stung. Kaldur thought that not only did he have to intercede, but that I'm too young to handle the situation maturely. Feeling humbled, I follow a little farther behind the others. Hunter, Cat, and Raina are chattering excitedly with Kara and I let their voices wash over me. It's easy conversation and Kara isn't giving them exact answers, but it's still friendly. 

"Where do you live? Do you always wear your costume like under you clothes and stuff?"

"Is It a pain to go to the bathroom in?"

"Um, sometimes. But I don't usually—"

"How old were you when you started? How did Superman find you?"

"Actually I—"

"Is he as handsome in person as on TV?"

"Uh..." Kara glances at me, looking uncomfortable. That's a little surprising to me. After all, her mentor doesn't mind attention. And with her cheery clothes and gung-ho attitude towards everything, I didn't take her as a shy girl.

I sense something out of the corner of my eye suddenly. We're off school grounds now, walking down the street between a series of small window shops. My training kicks in and I don't turn around or pause. I continue like there's nothing wrong. 

I stop when I come to a window that could be reasonably interesting. We're all dressed like normal kids, so we might as well act like it. It's a model train shop win a small steam-powered train traveling in circles in the window. Okay, so maybe only interesting to forty-year-old guys living in their basement, but I can make it work. "Hey guys," I call to the others. 

Hearing the enthusiasm in my voice, they all immediately turn around. "What's up, Dick," Kara asks. "Something wrong?"

I smile widely. "Nah, but you've got to see this train." I tap the glass with my knuckle. 

"You serious? We don't have time for this!" Roy says, giving me a look. 

"No, I'm serious. This is a 1846 Bentley. Look, it's in perfect condition and everything." I trace my finger on the glass. 

Kaldur seems to sense something's up because he walks up beside me. The others follow, somewhat hesitantly. At least Kaldur has some common sense. 

"You know, the first steam engine was originally created two hundred years ago for pumping water out of mines, and then the first locomotive was invented, called the Rocket, by George Stephenson..." I start rattling off train facts like I'm a real enthusiast. But all the while, I'm actually staring at the reflection in the glass of across the street. Just as I suspected. 

"There's a man following us," I add. "But don't look."

Nobody does. Hunter almost, but Roy throws an arm around his shoulder, forcing him to keep looking ahead. 

"How do you know?" Kaldur asks me, a smile on his face like we're still talking about trains. 

I gesture at the train. "Bright red baseball cap. He's been behind us on the opposite side of the road since we left Central. He's stopped right now since we did and is having a conversation with the florist across the street to make it seem casual." I study his reflection. "Late forties, African American, two concealed weapons: a gun in the holder under his jacket and there's a knife up his sleeve. His shoes are practical—made for running. He's not from around here either." This is a little more of an assumption than anything. It's just the people of Gotham don't wear bright colors. This man's red hat makes him stick out like a sore thumb. 

It's started to drizzle again. The rain splashes against the puddles already formed in the road. 

There are some observations that I don't tell the team. First of all, the guy is well trained. His movements and his easy-going, confident attitude all speak of at least twenty years of disciplinary training of some type. I'm guessing mixed martial arts, but that's only a hunch. There's something else about his manner that's confusing me too. He seems good at what he does. So why is it that he hasn't figured out that we know he's stalking us yet?

"What do we do?" Kara doesn't seem to be able to keep up the blasé front we had going. 

"I don't have any weapons," Roy says, sounding nervous. 

I give him a look so intense, he takes a step back. "Seriously? _No_ weapons? You are aware that you don't have superpowers, right?" He took all that time figuring out his tough guy biker look and he didn't even slip a switch blade into his pocket? 

Roy recovers himself and glares back. "Sorry, but I'm in civilian mode."

"Right. So am I. But I, at least, am armed." I turn away from him. I can feel the other's eyes on me, trying to figure out where I'm keeping my weapons. But I don't have time for this. "Follow my lead." I start to walk again, abruptly. 

Hunter starts to babble. "Guys, what's that guy going to do to us? What's going on?"

"Hunter, shut up and maybe they'll tell us when we're not being stalked," Cat shoots at him. She casually looks back. "He's following us again."

I take the group into a side alley. The rain's coming down harder now. Kaldur holds up his hand, eyes starting to glow faintly, and directs it so it flows around us, like a big invisible umbrella. 

I shouldn't have parked the SUV so far away. But I didn't want to draw attention to a thirteen-year-old kid driving. Plus, finding a parking space downtown is nearly impossible. 

"Uh, Robin," Kara says, using my sidekick name to tell everyone to be on high alert, "I can't hear him anymore."

Hunter turns around before anyone can stop him. "He's gone!"

Cat grabs his arm and wheels him back around. Then she pauses. "His smell is gone. The rain's washing it away."

"Supergirl, keep listening. Speedy, try to contact Kid Flash." Kaldur raises his arms and starts to gather the rain into a ball of water. His eyes glow bright blue as he does so, probably giving away who we are if the guy had any reason to doubt. 

My fingers twitch towards my hidden collapsible staff. It's made of a titanium alloy, like my gloves, and is basically indestructible. Speaking of which, I should probably put my gloves on...

We don't stop moving as everyone's arming up. I let myself fall to the back of the group. Information is easier to gather from afar. I'll leave this to the super powered people.

I sink into the shadows. Years of practice is the only thing that really keeps me from being seen with my civilian clothes on. I really wish I had my black cape right about now.

The man is leaning up against the SUV when we turn the corner. Everyone jumps and Raina lets out a little shriek. But the guy hasn't drawn his gun or his knife. He's acting as casual as he was before. He better hope he doesn't scratch the Batman's car. 

"Hello, kids," he says in a friendly southern drawl. "Sorry for scaring y'all, but I figured this is the best way to getcha attention." He takes off his cap and bows his head. "Name's Sharp. Like the cheese."

Kaldur is holding a huge ball of water out in front of him, looking like he's ready to go all super-soaker on the guy. "Why have you been following us?"

"Now wait just a second, boyo. I wanna hava civilized conversation, see? Which one of ya'll is the leader of this here group?"

I see them all glance at each other. With a slight nod from Roy and Kara, Kaldur says, "I guess I am."

That makes sense. After all, he is the de facto leader on the missions their supers give them. And the oldest. 

"Well, okey-dokey then. Now son, are you going to throw that at me because I'm already gettin' one heck of a shower." Sharp holds his hands out and glances up at the rain, grinning. 

"We do not negotiate with the likes of you. What do you want?" Kaldur says, venom in his voice.

Sharp eyes the group. "I see we've got the sidekicks that escaped here. The Kid and the magician child have already been rounded up..."

"Kid Flash andZatanna? What did you do to them!" Kara takes a step forward but Kaldur holds up an arm, stopping her. 

"Now hang on there, sweetheart, I didn't do nothing to yur friends." Sharp is still looking at each young member of the group. "I see you've got the little powered kids that have been monitored for months now. That's good..." Then his eyes widen, just for a moment before he recovers himself and his casual expression falls back into place. But his left hand, I notice, strays toward his right sleeve, where his knife is. "Um...where's you're little friend? Where's Batman's sidekick?"

Kaldur frowns and glances around, eyes dimming slightly. "He's not here?" I try not to get too rankled that he only just now noticed. 

By this time, I've managed to skiff around the whole scene so I'm behind Sharp. I've measured up the situation enough to make myself feel more comfortable. Batman doesn't do banter with criminals. He just knocks them out. But it seems like I'm going to have to talk to the guy before he's going to reveal anything. 

I step out of the shadows, two throwing stars hidden in the palm of my hand. "Looking for me?"

Sharp swings around quickly, his reflexes faster than I expected. But my instincts kick in and I throw a star before I can even register that the knife is now in his hand. 

My aim is right on and the knife clatters to the ground. 

Sharp throws his hands into the air for an instant surrender. I think that's a bit weird. After all, when most bad guys I face see that they outweigh me by two hundred pounds, they don't usually go down peacefully. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare yah," Sharp says. "I don't mean yah no harm."

"Drop the fake accent," I say, getting irritated. This guy isn't making any sense. Why would he draw a knife if he didn't mean any harm? Is he trying to bluff his way out of this? I didn't take him to be that stupid. 

Sharp cracks a smile. He speaks and this time there's no hint of a southern tone in his voice. In fact, he sounds like he's actually from the north, perhaps New York or New Jersey. "How did you know it was fake?"

"Lucky guess," I say. I don't reveal my tricks to the bad guys. Batman always says that's a fatal downfall of lots of heroes: _haha, villain, you cannot beat me because I've got super strength and can shoot laser from my eyes! Now you can totally not use that information to build a trap that I can't break out of!_

Sharp still has his hands in the air. "I thought that accent was quite good. One of my best. Oh well, it was starting to get on my nerves anyways."

Mine too. "So if you mean no harm, why are you stalking us down dark alleys and threatening us with knives?"

"You children went down the dark alley. And as for the knife, you just startled me. Leaping out of the shadows like that."

I frown. I had walked calmly out of the shadows. No leaping involved. "What happened to Kid Flash and Zatanna?"

"They were probably captured by now. The young Zatanna wouldn't have gotten very far outside of League headquarters. Especially in her current state. Wally West, or Kid Flash, doubtfully made it to the safe-house you all were heading to."

"No, he was there," I say. My tracker told me he was there. 

"Really? Then I stand corrected. But do you know if he's still there?"

I pull up my holo-screen, searching for Wally's glowing blue dot. It's gone, though. That either means that Wally's now out of my range, or the tracker was destroyed. I play back the instant feed to see what happened. It shows the blue dot speeding over to the safe-house, waiting there for some time, then leaving, heading towards a civilian subdivision. I swear in Romani under my breath. "He went home." Probably to check on his family. Then his dot just disappears. 

"And they grabbed him at his house. Probably took his whole family," Sharp says. 

This time it's Roy who lunges for him. "Who are _they_? And are you not one of them?" 

Sharp grins toothily. "No, sir. I'm just trying to look out for you kids."

"We don't need babysitters," I say venomously. Batman always treated me like a partner, not a sidekick. I'm used to having responsibilities. Alfred says I have a problem with authoritative figures, but I don't think so. They just always seem to have a problem with me.

"I'm sure you don't," Sharp says, completely at ease. "But you might need the information I hold."

"You know, usually the bad guys don't just hand over information without expecting something in return," Kara says. 

Sharp nods thoughtfully. "True. But I'm not an ordinary bad guy. Just like you aren't ordinary kids." He cocks an eyebrow. "Isn't that right, Aqualad, Speedy, Supergirl..." His eyes flicker to me. "Robin."

I stiffen a little. Only the top villains of Gotham know who I'm am. Needless to say, I'm unused to getting recognized. My fingers play over the holo-keyboard. I need information. 

"Then who are you?" Hunter speaks up. "Because I've never heard of you."

"His name is Sharp. He's from the Bronx. Forty-six years old, mixed martial arts expert. His special abilities have to do with his knife he always carries." I glance at the knife which is still on the ground from when I knocked it out of his hand. That explains why he went for the knife first and not the gun. I scroll down the screen. "Only known robbery is of a furniture store twenty years ago in Boston which was stopped mid-crime by the police. You disappeared off the radar and no other record of you exists."

"Which is highly unusual for Batman's records, am I right, Robin?" Sharp smiles at me. "No other files are more extensive than the Batman's. I'm guessing that I'm one of the few whose files are incomplete. Along with the Bat's and...yours?"

I grind my teeth together. He's absolutely right. Batman doesn't have actually any record of either me or him. It's like writing a journal full of weaknesses except a thousand times worse. But I want to know how he knows that. I hold up my throwing star so it catches the light. "You have three seconds before this goes between your eyes. How do you know that and why are you helping us? Or at least trying to?"

Sharp swallows. "I've been living in the underground for a while. I did not think that I would be able to live a normal life. After all, what sort of job would I have? My power just makes me handy with knives."

"Butcher? Baker? Candlestick maker?" Cat offers. Weirdo.

He ignores her. "So I stayed underground. I did some odd jobs, some henchman work. I never killed anyone, mind. Just moved boxes, did some heists. I never wanted to hurt anyone."

Roy snorts. "You're in the wrong business for that."

I say nothing. Batman once said to me, after my parents died, that revenge is not the answer. That there's a fine line separating _us_ from _them_. Out of all the bad guys we've ever faced, Batman has only even shown a front of cool, collected calm. He never harmed anyone more than necessary. That's why we don't use guns. I've been trained to shoot, but I've only ever shot at birds and the occasional deer. Out of all my tools on my utility belt, none are extremely deadly. I guess I could just walk around and shoot all the bad guys, but that wouldn't accomplish anything. We disarm, arrest, and rehabilitate. That's our job. 

"Anyways, a few months ago, they started recruiting assassins for some job. I didn't pay it any mind until practically every killer in the city was called up." Sharp shakes his head. "Eventually even I was contacted. They said they wanted people just to be captured. It's never that simple though." Sharp looks at us wistfully. "They were after you kids. The League sidekicks. But most especially..." He turns to me. "Him."

I swallow. "Me?"

"Why are they so interested in Robin?" Roy asks.

"Well, from what I overheard, they had this thing planned out for years. This whole heist of making the heroes disappear and grabbing the sidekicks."

Kara asks eagerly, "Do you know what happened to them?"

Sharp shakes his head. "No. I was just hired muscle. Anyways, so they had profiles on everybody. Each hero from all over America. Sidekicks too. Then one day, I'm helping to guard this one ammunitions plant and suddenly everyone starts going crazy. They're all yelling bloody murder at each other and I know for a fact that the higher ups dug out a ton of people and had them executed. It was all over Robin."

My hand is still frozen in the same position, prepared to through the star. But I lower it. "What do you mean? Why?"

"Because they didn't have a record on you," Sharp says, smiling now that he sees I'm not on the offensive. "You were a mystery. But some poor unlucky sole who was spying on Batman told their boss that there was a kid with the Bat. A kid who was flipping around like an acrobat. A kid who seemed a heck of a lot like a sidekick. But they didn't have any record of Batman having a sidekick at all."

I watch his eyes, trying to determine if he's lying. It must have been some henchman to spy on Batman and not get caught. Or on me, for that matter. 

"The day for the operation to take place was happening and I realized that I didn't want anything to do with it. I mean, I may be a poor, unfortunate sole, caught in unwelcome circumstances...but kidnapping on a mass scale is just wrong." Sharp looks at each of us. "So I came, trying to outrun the others and get to the sidekicks before they did. And I found you." He looked down. "I'd imagine they've captured everyone else by now."

"How much do they know about us?" Kara asks in a quiet voice. "Our parents...?"

"Probably gone. They needed someone close to the hero to hold against them as leverage. Another reason why Robin was such a problem."

Because I don't have any living family members. I can feel the others looking at me. 

"How can they know about us?" Raina asks. "We're not even sidekicks."

"No, but the moment they tracked them," he nods to the four of us, "to Gotham Central, they knew something was up. Which reminds me, you've all got trackers on you in your—"

"League communicators," I finish. "Yeah, we already ditched those."

Sharp looks impressed. "Very nice. That will throw them off your trail for some time. They used them to round up the others. In fact, they last transmitted that you were in Star City, and that's where I was headed before I some suspicious looking kids all around the age everyone is looking for wandering the streets of Gotham."

I don't think that's really fair. We weren't wandering, we were walking with purpose. 

"So did you do that earlier stunt to throw them off you trail too?" Sharp asks me. 

I cough. "What stunt?"

"Yeah..." Kara frowns at me. "What stunt?"

"It's all over the news. A sidekick was spotted in Star City in front of the Hall of Justice harassing some local teenagers. Somebody caught it all on their phone camera. Everyone thought it was somebody gone rogue. A few even thought he was Speedy in a different outfit."

I throw my hands up in defeat. "Why do people keep confusing me with him? We look nothing alike!"

"What did you do, Robin?" Kaldur asks, his voice full of authority. 

I wave him off. "Some guy thought it would be funny to beat up a younger kid in front of all his buddies and I just didn't let him win." I leave out the fact that I was that younger kid.

"The kid apparently had a bloody nose and was in tears. His mom showed up on the seen and they got footage of him being yelled at for twenty minutes straight," Sharp says helpfully. 

I wince. That's harsh. "Not my problem. Just doing me duty. Keeping the streets clean of filth."

Kaldur frowns disapprovingly. "We will talk about this later." The way he says it is like he's a parent who just got embarrassed in public by their kid. "Now, Sharp, what do you advise we do?"

"For now, I suggest we go someplace safe. The safe house that Kid Flash went to is no longer quite so secret."

"That's fine," Roy says. "There's another one not far from here."

"Hang on," I say. "This guy is still a criminal. Thanks for the information, but you should be on your way."

"No, I can still help! I think I know where they're keeping the heroes."

"Robin, come on." Kara looks as me pleadingly. "We could use his help."

"You're just nervous because we don't know anything about him," Roy says, rolling his eyes.

Once more, Roy has hit the nail on the head. But why does he think that's a good thing? "Exactly, I—"

"It has already been decided," Kaldur snaps. "Everyone, get in the car."

I repress my anger as we pile into the SUV. Roy's already in the driver's seat with Kaldur on the passenger's side. Sharp sits beside Kara (the Supergirl only having to lift a finger to kill him and that would deter anyone from running away). I get sandwiched in the back with the newbies who start chattering excitedly and annoyingly. 

Roy starts up the engine. He glances down. "Oh. It's a stick shift." The car lurches a few times before finally pulling out of the alley.

I swallow my stomach. Of all the ways Kaldur could punish me. "He better not scratch it," I mumble and cross my arms as we turn down the main road.


	9. Safehouse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have a nightmare.
> 
> My mother, however, is crystal clear. I can even smell her rosemary perfume. "It only works without the net. You just cannot rely on some thing to catch you. With the danger, you can rely on only yourself. And your family." She smiles to where my father is. "I shall go first. Then you, my little Robin." She turns her back to the drop and extends her arms out to either side. She smiles at me, closes her eyes, and falls backward.

I'm feeling incredibly tired by the time we reach the safe house. It's a ratty townhouse but I'm so exhausted and so sick of this car that it looks like the Palace of Versailles to me. Funny how Roy said the house was "not too far" away but we drove approximately three hours to get there. We stopped at other safe houses along the way, but Kaldur would glance at them and determine them not safe and we would drive on.

We're in a town not too far from Metropolis. It's one of those towns that might have been considered a big city back in, oh, I don't know, the colonial times. There's lots of parks and old signs that say _Historic_ this and _Preserved_ that.

We all blearily tumble out of the car. Only Kaldur is really alert. I should be too, but after all the excitement of today, I'm pooped. Kaldur leads Sharp first into the house before gesturing for us to follow.

Inside the house, I tiredly take in the room. It seems old and unused, with a faint smell of cigarette smoke still lingering in the shag carpet from the previous owner. The place is decorated with lots of black and white and mustard yellow—colors that were popular for decoration back in the early nineties. From what my blurry eyes take in, it seems the security system is the only thing updated about this townhouse. 

"...and this isn't connected to the other safe houses?" Sharp is asking Kaldur.

"No. All the security systems and cameras run independently. They would have to break into League Headquarters in order to access them. No, I think we're safe." He turns to us. "Room situation. Robin, you're with me. Speedy and Hunter in the second room to the right. The three girls on the left."

As I watch them clamber upstairs, I feel a small sense of dread. It seems Kaldur still plans to chew me out. Or both Hunter and Speedy said they didn't want to room with me. Either way, I'm not fitting in with the team half as well as I had hoped. 

"Sharp, sorry, but until we trust you more, I'm going to have to keep you in the cell in the basement."

"No problem, Aqualad," Sharp says, acting very benign, "I would do the same."

Lock us in the basement? Gee, how reassuring. 

I watch Kaldur guide Sharp into the basement. I follow after a few minutes to see just how he's being locked up. 

The whole basement is lined with cells like it was made specifically to be a penitentiary center. I stop at the doorway and watch as Kaldur puts Sharp in the first cell. There's a key to lock it hanging right next to the door. Kaldur locks the cell and slips the key into his pocket. "Good night."

"Night," Sharp grunts from inside the cell. 

I wait until we're upstairs and Kaldur has locked the basement door with a second key before saying, "He's still got his gun you know."

Kaldur looks at me and I gather that no, he had forgotten about the gun. "It does not matter. He could have turned around and shot me at any time walking down those stairs. And now he is in a cell and I doubt a gun will help him get out."

He's probably right, but I say, "Still, it might have been better to make sure he doesn't have any weapons on him before letting him into the car, much less the safe house. And he could have been lying about his special abilities only relating to knives. Maybe—"

"Dick, don't be ridiculous. Did you sense he was lying?"

"Well—"

"Not everybody is lying all the time," Kaldur says. He places a gentle hand on my shoulder, acting like an older brother. And I suppose he could be, being three years older. "Dick, you are still young. I know at times you forget the responsibilities weighing on you and you're probably worried about your family. And your mentor. We all are. But we need to be able to trust you in the field. That move you pulled on Hunter and the way you acted to those boys back in Star City, that was not acceptable."

I avoid his gaze. "That wasn't in the field though."

"Life is a continuous mission. You've got to be able to keep a professional manner when you're working with professionals. We've been doing this for a long time. I don't just judge someone by how they work in the field, but off it too."

This time I look him in the eyes. "I'm sorry. It's just...it's just I've never worked with kids my own age before. And Batman's so different..."

"Are you saying Batman would have tolerated that kind of behavior?" Kaldur raises an eyebrow questioningly. 

"Of course not." I look at my feet. 

"How long have you been doing this, Dick?" Kaldur asks. "Because we all get to points where we get unstable and it always helps to have someone to talk to."

I open my mouth and then close it again. Then finally, I say, "Five years."

"See, not to mention you're approaching that age where—" He stops. "Did you say _five_ _years_?"

"Yeah." I turn away from him and cross my arms. 

"Wait, so how old were you when Batman first started to train you?"

Really? He still can't remember my age? Haven't we gone over this? "Right now I'm thirteen...so eight when I first started."

"I—I don't understand. How is it that you could have been Batman's sidekick for so long and nobody have known?"

I shrug. Batman doesn't go around just divulging information. "Batman's got ways of making sure people never find out certain things."

"Incredible. I've never heard of such a thing. How did you keep it from your family for so long?"

This I do _not_ want to talk about. But when I don't say anything, Kaldur seems to suddenly know. 

"It's okay, we all have issues with our families. Roy...Roy lives with his mother. His father died when he was little. Kara lives with her adoptive parents because her own parents died in the same incident that killed Superman's. My parents live back in Atlantis and I hardly get to see them. Wally, Hunter, Raina, and Cat...they all have normal families who were probably all captured. We know what you're going through."

"No, you don't." I steel myself and manage to say, "My whole family is dead." I turn to him. "Batman is the only family I have." My eyes are burning. I quickly look down and wipe away a stray tear. Stupid. Stupid for talking, stupid for crying...

Kaldur walks over and pulls me into a hug. I stiffen. I'm not used to such affection. The most Batman will ever do is pat me on the back. I push away. "I'm fine," I choke out. 

Kaldur sighs. "Of course. You should probably get some rest. I'll take first watch."

I nod and quietly walk up the stairs. I take the first door on the right and collapse onto one of the beds. The room was set up like a boarding school and there're two bunk beds on either side. I don't have any pajamas to wear so I just slip off my shoes and roll over so I'm facing the wall. Hopefully, someone will wake me up when it's my turn to do watch. I have the feeling I won't be getting much sleep anyways. The conversation I just had swirls around my head. I can't believe I revealed so much about myself to anybody. 

However, despite my previous thought, I _am_ tired. Eventually, my eyes get too heavy to keep open and I fall into a troubled sleep.

* * *

I have a dream that night. Which was extremely odd. I don't usually dream, but this one I remember clearly. It was actually more like a nightmare.

I'm seeing myself while at the same time controlling myself. It's a weird sensation. My mother is there too. She has darker skin but the same light blue eyes as me. Her dark hair falls around her shoulders. She smiles at me. "In order to do trapeze, you must be supremely confident in your abilities. Can you do that for me, my dear?"

I nod. We are suddenly up in the air. The ground lit below us looks the size of a quarter. I'm standing at one of the raised platforms. My mother is beside me. I can see my father standing across on the other platform. He waves to us. At times I have trouble remembering what my father looked like. It's no different now, he's too far away and his features are blurred. 

My mother, however, is crystal clear. I can even smell her rosemary perfume. "It only works without the net. You just cannot rely on some _thing_ to catch you. With the danger, you can rely on only yourself. And your family." She smiles to where my father is. "I shall go first. Then you, my little Robin." She turns her back to the drop and extends her arms out to either side. She smiles at me, closes her eyes, and falls backward. 

At the same time, my father has jumped from his platform. He swings on a bar that is suddenly in his hands and flips to that he is gripping it with his legs. As he descends, he reaches out and catches my mother's extended arms and they both go swinging away from me. 

Suddenly, I'm on the ground, looking up. This is where I was...I was standing here when it happened. I saw the ropes fray and the line snap and my parents tumble towards that ground. I heard the crowd gasp and then go silent and then scream. I cannot erase these images from my mind. I turn away and as I do, I see Bruce standing there just like he was before. I follow his gaze and see a large man paying off one if the tech crewman that is in charge of setting up the trapeze. 

I turn back to Bruce. This is where he walks up and comforts me. This is where he grips my shoulder and leads me away. This is where I become his ward. 

But instead, he's farther away. He's not looking at me, but at another boy. I see his face and it's Hunter. Suddenly, they're both in costume and Hunter is wearing my outfit and standing beside Batman. 

And I'm nobody. I don't have anything left. And suddenly I'm hanging from the trapeze and I feel the rope snap and I tumble away and there is no net and—

"Robin!" 

I jolt awake and smack my head on the bottom of the bed above me. Kara is standing over me, her forehead creased. "Are you okay?" she asks.

Yes, of course, smacking my head feels wonderful. "Yeah. Just a minor conclusion."

"No, I mean...you were calling out." Kara bites her lip. 

"I was?" I look down at my hands which are still shaking. I take a few breaths. "Sorry. Bad dream."

"Wanna talk about it?" Kara asks. 

Seriously? Why does everyone think I need a psychologist? "No."

"Well, um, it's ten o'clock. We finished breakfast and I thought I should wake you up. We're going to do some exercises."

Ten o'clock? I don't think I've ever slept in a day in my life. I swear in Romani and jump out of bed. I'm still in my wrinkled polo and khakis from yesterday. "No one woke me up for watch duty."

"Aqualad said you needed sleep." Kara's giving me a look I can't quite interpret. "Oh, and I brought you some clothes. The closets here are all fully stocked for emergencies and whatnot. So, yeah. Here." She hands me a bundle of clothes. They're mostly jeans and t-shirts.

"Thanks," I say. I really am grateful. Especially since I was apparently acting way out of line yesterday. "Seriously, Kara, thanks."

She smiles hesitantly. "No problem. Um, I was going through the zeta tubes in the closet and almost all of our uniforms can be teleported to here. But it asked for a password when I tried to find yours, so I thought you would handle that."

"'Kay."

"Um...yeah." Kara backs out of the room. "We're in the gymnasium when you're ready."

I wonder if they expect me to show up in full uniform or just in workout clothes. And what the heck is a zeta tube? I've never been to an official League workout session in my life, and I don't know what to expect. 

I sort through the pile of clothes until I find a pair of shorts and a nice workout tee. After moving all my carried weapons to my new outfit, I check myself over in the mirror and run a hand through my hair. Great, now to the gymnasium. 

I freeze at the door. Wait, this is a townhouse. Where do they keep a _gymnasium_?


	10. Gym Class is in Session

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I show the newbies how its done and get an unexpected call. 
> 
>  
> 
> "I saw what you did with those little frisbees. Care to demonstrate for us?" Roy does a mock show of tossing an invisible frisbee.  
> Kara rolls her eyes. "Roy, don't be a baby."  
> "It's called a shuriken," I say. I know I'm being baited, but I do not throw little frisbees.

I eventually find the gymnasium by taking the elevator. Man, I wonder what rent costs for this place. 

When the doors slide open, I take a look around. The gym is huge with archery ranges and a wrestling/combat mat. There's fencing equipment, long distance weapons, a pool that looks like it's closed down, some hoops hanging from the ceiling for the flyers, and a track circles the whole thing. There's even some gymnastics equipment. I wonder how they built this place without the neighbors right above us finding out. Also, how many floors does this place have? The elevator buttons designated at least four. 

"Well, look who finally made it," Cat calls from across the room. She and the other newbies are stretching with everyone else. Great. 

Kaldur and Kara make room in between them for me to join their circle which I'm thankful for. But now I'm standing right across from Hunter. 

"So, we were saying," Roy says, not hiding the irritation from his voice, "that the newbies should get some official training under their belts. Especially since all they've ever worked on with the Batman is their power set."

Well, that sounds boring. I look around. "Where's Sharp?" After trusting him enough to invite him into the safe house, having him stay the night, and leaving him armed, I would have thought he would have been invited up here to watching us and learning our weaknesses. 

"He's still in his cell, snoring like you were a few minutes ago," Kaldur says. "He didn't even wake up when I took his gun from him this morning."

I glance at Kaldur who meets my gaze and smiles back calmly. "Oh. Okay then. Um...so training?"

"We're going to do a few laps around the gym." Kara glances around at the equipment. "Then we'll do some target practice. And then we'll do some projections."

What, like banking projections? "Uh, okay."

Cat rolls her eyes. "Great. The first thing I need in the morning is a mile run."

We walk over to the track. "Just do what you can," Kaldur says. 

The newbies keep groaning and complaining until Roy shouts for us to start. 

Kara and Kaldur pull immediately ahead. But that's expected since both their powers make them stronger and faster. 

Roy and I are neck and neck with Hunter right behind us. Cat's behind him, but I don't think she's trying very hard. Raina is already breathing heavily behind her. 

After about thirty minutes I realize that Kara and Kaldur seem to be getting closer. After another ten minutes, I've passed them. Roy has dropped back too now. I do another lap and frown when I see that everyone else has stopped and are flopped on the floor, breathing heavily. I slow down and walk towards them. Wiping sweat from my forehead, I say, "Sorry, I didn't know when to stop."

Roy doesn't say anything but just glares at me, chest heaving. Cat, Raina, and Hunter have already gotten bottles of water for us all. They quit after the first five minutes. Kaldur looks at me in a new light as he stands with his hands on his hips trying to recover his breath. 

"Impressive, Robin," he says. "Your endurance out-stood even those of Kara's."

Kara gives me a look. "Sure you don't have superpowers?"

I shake my head. They stopped because they were tired? I'm tired too, but I didn't stop. I thought we were going for an hour. Whatever. "So what's next?"

"Target practice." Roy rolls onto his feet and gets up, grinning. I guess he's happy we're finally doing something that doesn't make him look like a loser. Not that that stupid grin on his face is helping his cause. 

We all go over to the target range. There's cardboard cutouts of gangsters with targets painted on them. Each is distanced at between ten to sixty yards away. A variety of long distance weapons are lined up on the rack next to us.

"The outer ring is ten points and if you hit the middle it's one hundred," Roy says. He sounds like a little kid explaining his favorite game. "The farther away, the more points you get." He picks up the bow and arrow. He tests the draw once before notching and aims at the farthest away target. He lets the string go and there's a _swish_ and a _thwack_ as the arrow flies through the air and hits the dead center of the target sixty yards away. Hunter and Cat clap at the display.

Roy takes a little bow. "Six hundred points goes to me."

"Why do we have to practice this?" Raina asks, looking at the weapons nervously. "I'll never be able to do that. Plus I have my own powers."

"You never know when your powers will fail you," Kara says. "Then you'll have to use whatever you have that's available. And that might be a knife the bad guy dropped—oh, or this weird gun thing..." She picks up a deadly looking laser gun and points it at the closest target. It makes a whirring noise as it charges up and fires with a bang. The cardboard gangster is reduced to smoldering ashes. "See?"

Raina now looks even more nervous than before. "Uh, okay."

"It's simple hand-eye coordination," Kaldur says gently. "You will get the hang of it." He moves off a little, showing the three newbies each weapon.

"Nothing to say, Bird Boy?" Roy asks, smirking at me. He seems to be more confident in annoying me now that Kaldur 's out of earshot.

I actually have a lot to say about his idiotic points game, but I don't want to get into a fight after I'm already in hot water. "No. Looks...fun."

"I saw what you did with those little frisbees. Care to demonstrate for us?" Roy does a mock show of tossing an invisible frisbee.

Kara rolls her eyes. "Roy, don't be a baby."

"It's called a _shuriken_ ," I say. I know I'm being baited, but I do _not_ throwlittle frisbees. 

Roy looks pleased that his prodding worked. "Oh, I'm sorry I don't know the technical term. But you do throw them like this right?" He does his invisible frisbee bit again. 

"Sometimes," I snap. 

Roy elbows Kara. "I bet you twenty bucks he can't hit the center of that closest target."

Kara gives him a look. "Seriously, stop it. He's had a rough night."

"Oh, yeah, I heard you had a wittle nightmare." Roy sticks out his bottom lip. "Calling out for Mommy?"

Now I'm angry not just at him but at Kara. She told the others I was calling out in my sleep? I glare at her as I cross my arms, while at the same time removing some of my hidden throwing stars from the back of my waistband and slipping them into my hand. 

"Have you ever killed someone?" I ask Roy. 

Roy looks a little taken aback. "Uh, what? Of course not!" He laughs uneasily and looks at Kara like she'll agree with him on the ridiculousness of my question. She's frowning at me though. 

I look out at the cardboard gangsters. "It's great you can hit a bullseye. Congrats. But your bullseye is right in the center of the abdomen. Very painful. Doesn't kill instantly. Internal bleeding and a slow death. Slowing them down works just as well." I throw one star and it pierces the thigh. "According to your target, I didn't get any points, but this guy won't be going anywhere fast. If he's holding a weapon..." I flick my wrist and send another star into his bicep. "He won't be able to hold onto it. And if it's dead you want..." I switch one star into my left hand and throw them both at the same time. One hits the guy square in the throat, the other between the eyes. "There, instant death. But we're superheroes, not sportsmen. I don't shoot for points." I walk over and retrieve my stars. 

When I turn to walk back, I see everyone is staring at me. Again. Roy has his mouth open like he can't believe I just dissed his game that badly. Kara has a weird sad look on her face. Kaldur looks vaguely proud and the three others look impressed. I put my throwing stars away. I was trying to make a statement, not show off. I walk away from them. Before anyone can stop him, Hunter runs after me. 

"Dude, that was awesome. That speech—so cool! But you should have ended it like, 'I don't shoot for points, I shoot for justice,' or something..."

I try to look at him but I can't. Seeing his face makes me think of him next to Batman, wearing my costume and taking my role. Then a flash of my parents falling through the air...the screams... "Leave me alone."

He doesn't seem to hear the danger in my voice. "No, I'm serious, you were like a little ninja back there."

I turn around slowly. I'm seriously about to punch him in the face when suddenly I hear...

_Jingle bells, Batman smells_...

I freeze, my face going pale. I glance around the room. Kaldur is frowning at me like he doesn't know what's wrong with me. Roy's got an arrow notched but he's not pointing at me yet. Kara's hovering, like she's ready to step in to stop me. They all think I'm still angry at Hunter still. None of them hear it.

Which means it's coming from my earpiece. 

The music continues. _Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg..._

It's a song Bruce and I came up with when he was too drunk on eggnog and I was too lightheaded and tired one Christmas Eve. We both were so carefree. It's one of my favorite memories. So I recorded a version of our Jingle Bells and had it made my ringtone for when Bruce wants to call me when it's not an emergency. This is actually the first time it's happened. 

... _the Bat-mobile has lost a wheel, and now it's rolling away, HEY!_

"Robin, you need to calm down," Kaldur says. 

"Hey, I'm sorry, Dick, I didn't mean to upset you," Roy's saying. "I was just having some fun. But don't take it out on Hunter."

"Me?" Hunter squeals. "What did I do?"

Cat sighs. "Hunter, just shut up."

Kara cocks her head. "Does anyone hear _Jingle Bells?_ "

My hands are shaking but now it's not from anger. In fact, my anger is all but dissipated. "I'm...I'm sorry," I say to the others. "Excuse me."

I run off towards the elevator. Skidding inside, I wait for the doors to close—which feels like an eternity—before finally bringing a hand to my ear and pressing the button to answer the call.

"Dick, thank goodness. I thought you had forgotten to charge your earpiece!"

I sink to the floor, practically crying with relief. "B-Bruce?"

"Yes, boy, it's me. I need you to listen."

I nod before remembering he can't see the gesture. "Okay?"

"Where are you?"

"I'm in a safe-house outside of Metropolis. Where are you? You've been gone for over twenty-four hours!"

"Are the remaining sidekicks there as well?"

"Yeah."

"And Sharp? Have you met up with Sharp yet?"

"Sharp? You know him?"

"Who do you think sent him to you? Now, Robin," he switches back to my superhero name, and I know it's his signal for us to get down to business, "I need you to listen. You _cannot_ trust anyone in that building but Sharp."

" _What?_ " I give a shaky laugh even though I of all people know Batman never jokes. "I can only trust _Sharp_? But what about Supergirl, or Aqualad or—"

"Quiet! Just listen to me! You have to go with Sharp. Trust me, it's for the best."

Now he sounds like he's sending me off to military school instead of telling me to release the guy I probably trust the least in this building. "For the _best_? Batman, I—"

"I need you to be professional about this, boy. Rule 17?"

"Yeah, the only people I can trust are Batman and maybe Alfred." And that's not even a joke. The "maybe" part is actually in the rule. "But what about Rule 345?"

"What about it?" He growls in his deep Batman voice. It sounds like he's gargling marbles and always makes me want to clap him on the back or give him a lozenge or _something_."Look, Robin. Several people have been lying to you right from the start. One, if you follow my directions, you will find out soon enough."

Why does he choose now to be so cryptic? "Can't you just tell me where you are? I can't go get you or—"

"Too risky. I've already surveyed the area and decided that this one call was all I could chance."

"You're being difficult—"

"Boy, just shut up and listen!" Batman snaps at me. 

I go quiet. "Sorry."

I can hear him heavily breathing on the other end. He needs to clear his throat or something because he's going to wear a hole through his tonsils making that sound. "Get Sharp. Get in costume. Follow him. Do as he says. Eventually, you will get to me."

I wait to make sure he's finished before saying, "Batman...Bruce...I don't understand. Why did you leave me all these clues that just led me to these clueless newbies...?"

"You'll soon find out. Robin...you'll soon find out they were lying to you the whole time. You got rid of the League communicators, right?"

"Of course. I knew there was a tracker inside them." I allow myself to feel proud for a whole second before Batman says—

"Doesn't matter. They each have a separate earpiece that allows them to communicate with each other and with their League mentors. I overheard their plans. They plan on faking the voices of their mentors to lure them all into a trap."

"What?" I jump up. The elevator has arrived (finally) and stops with a ding. "But I have to warn them!"

"Please, Robin. Do you really think they'll believe you? And you can bet the first thing out of their 'mentor's' mouths will be 'don't trust Robin'."

I swallow. "Why?"

"Because I escaped of course. They know by now that you know about their plans." I can practically hear him rolling his eyes.

"What? But I don't know anything. Why did they capture all the superheroes? What's with the fog? And is Alfred all right?"

"I don't know, Robin." Batman suddenly sounds very tired. It's a tone I don't usually hear and it scares me a little. "The only hope is the plan."

I take a shaking breath and run a hand through my hair. Suddenly, an idea occurs to me. "How do I know _you're_ not being faked?"

Batman growls, sounding irritated. "Fine then. When you were nine years old you told me what your biggest fear was. You were afraid of elephants."

I chuckle. "Okay, fine. So you're real."

"Now the plan. Robin, get your uniform, free Sharp, he'll give you instructions from there."

I frown, thinking. "Aqualad has the key to Sharp's cell."

"Will that be a problem?"

I straighten and tighten my voice. "No, sir."

"Good. I hope I'll see you soon, Dick."

"Okay, Bruce I—" I'll do my best.

But the signal cuts out and static blasts into my ear before I can finish. I turn the earpiece off. 

Time to go to work.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This fic is already all written out and I'll try to publish every week. Like I said, I originally had it on FanFiction. I hope you enjoy. Reviews are a blessing!


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